HM Treasury

Housing: Expenditure

Mr David Lammy: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was spent on (a) housing benefit and (b) publicly-funded new homes in each year from 2010.

Danny Alexander: Housing benefit expenditure is publically available as part of the Benefit Expenditure and Caseload tables 2014 and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2014   Almost 217,000 affordable homes have been delivered in England since April 2010.   The Affordable Homes Programme is on track to deliver 170,000 new affordable homes between 2011 and 2015, with £19.5 billion of public and private funding.

Public Expenditure

Chris Bryant: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to item 27 in Table 2.1 of the Autumn Statement 2014, whether the costs of culture and sport measures announced in the Autumn Statement for the years after 2015-16 fall within Total Managed Expenditure for those years.

Andrea Leadsom: The government’s fiscal assumption is expressed through Total Managed Expenditure (TME). This assumption incorporates all spending in years beyond 2015-16. However, decisions about particular budget lines will be decided in the round through the Spending Review process, which will take into consideration existing policy commitments.

Economic Situation: Northern Ireland

Dr William McCrea: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to rebalance the economy in Northern Ireland.

Danny Alexander: The UK Government shares the Northern Ireland Executive’s goal of rebalancing the Northern Ireland economy. The Northern Ireland economic pact ‘Building a Prosperous and United Community’ set out a range of measures to help rebalance the Northern Ireland economy and drive investment, jobs and growth. The first annual update on progress was published in July 2014.   Autumn Statement 2014 confirmed the Government’s view that the proposal to devolve corporation tax rate-setting powers to the Executive could be implemented, provided the Executive is able to manage the financial implications. The ongoing talks process is examining financial and budgetary issues, amongst a range of other issues.

Business: Northern Ireland

Dr William McCrea: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he next plans to meet (a) representatives of the business community and (b) high street traders in Northern Ireland.

Andrea Leadsom: Treasury Ministers do not have any outstanding invitations to meet representatives of the groups specified, but will continue to respond to such requests on their merits, should they be made.   UK Government Ministers do however maintain regular contact with their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive on a range of matters of mutual interest, and the views of business leaders in Northern Ireland inform their considerations.

Public Expenditure: Wales

Mr Mark Williams: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to update the work of the Holtham Commission on funding for Wales.

Danny Alexander: The Secretary of State for Wales has announced a process to consider the Welsh devolution settlement, with the aim of reaching cross-party agreement by 1 March 2015.   Building on the joint review process agreed in October 2012 and undertaken as part of the Spending Round in 2013, the UK and Welsh governments have also agreed to revisit the arrangements for considering relative funding in light of the powers contained in the Wales Bill.

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff are employed in his Department's headquarter buildings.

Andrea Leadsom: The Treasury regularly publishes workforce information. The links below provide information on both headcount and FTE (full-time equivalent).   http://data.gov.uk/dataset/hm-treasury-workforce-management-information https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/workforce-management--2

Sanctions: Kuwait

Stephen Barclay: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Kuwaiti nationals have been referred to HM Treasury's sanctions list in each of the last five years for which records are available.

Andrea Leadsom: There are currently ten individuals on the Treasury’s consolidated list of financial sanctions targets who are recorded as being Kuwaiti nationals. Of these, nine are individuals designated under the UN Al Qaida regime and one under the Terrorism and Terrorist Financing regime. Four of these Kuwaiti nationals were added to the list in 2014. The remaining six were all designated prior to 2010. No Kuwaiti nationals have been removed from the list during the last five years.

Flanagan Group

Steve Rotheram: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the contribution by the Exchequer Secretary, of 4 December 2014, Official Report, column 518, on the FCA redress scheme, if he will investigate the case of the Flanagan Group in Liverpool, Walton constituency.

Andrea Leadsom: The Financial Conduct Authority is best placed to consider individual cases. As such, I have recently written to the FCA requesting that the cases raised in the debate on 4 December are considered as part of the wider lessons learnt exercise that the FCA will be undertaking shortly.

Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission

Electoral Registration Officers

Sadiq Khan: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many Electoral Registration Officers failed to meet (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four, (e) five or (f) more than five of the Electoral Commission's performance standards in each year since 2008.

Mr Gary Streeter: The number of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) who did not meet one, two, three, four, five or more than five of the Electoral Commission's performance standards in each year since 2008 is as follows:  OneTwoThreeFourFiveMore than fiveTotal20088866663623182972009935419125218520103913422060201158810006720123200000322013221000023In 2013 the Commission introduced a new performance standards framework for EROs to support them in preparing for and delivering the transition to Individual Electoral Registration. In March 2014 we reported that no EROs failed to meet the first of these standards.Pursuant to the answer given to the Hon. Member on 9 December 2014, UIN 216888. The total given for the number of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) who did not meet one or more of the Commission’s performance standards was mistakenly given as 299. This figure incorrectly included two local authorities who, due to local government re-structuring, did not exist in their current form in 2008 so should not have been included in the figures. The table above provides the correct figures for this year.

Department for Work and Pensions

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Steve Webb: Expenditure should be viewed in the context of the size of the DWP workforce. The Department is a geographically-dispersed organisation employing around 90,000 staff across some 870 sites, delivering services directly to around 22 million customers. The table below shows the expenditure on taxis, 1st class rail and business class air travel for the years in question. The average spend per head on a taxi for 2013-14 was in the region of £1.67. Expenditure on taxis includes journeys to enable disabled members of staff to travel to and from work and respresents contractual spend and it does not include taxis claimed through expenses, as this could only be provided at disproportionate costs to the Department. The DWP introduced a restriction stopping staff travelling 1st class rail in 2011. Only DWP staff with disabilities are permitted to travel using 1st class rail, if there are no suitable standard class facilities available. The current DWP air travel policy only permits staff to book business class air tickets for single journeys greater than 2.5 hours in duration.  Financial Years (£m)Taxis (£m)1st Class Rail (£m)Business Class Air (£m)2009/10*13.30.382010/110.262.20.122011/120.210.350.072012/130.200.290.132013/140.160.140.14 *Data is not available for taxi travel before 2010.

Access to Work Programme

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will increase funding for the Access to Work Workplace Mental Health Support Service to more than two per cent of the annual Access to Work budget.

Mr Mark Harper: Access to Work is a demand led scheme. The existing funding available to deliver the Mental Health Support Service means the service has capacity to help increasing numbers of people which is why we are currently working with stakeholders to raise awareness of the scheme.

Employment and Support Allowance: Wales

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are waiting for an employment and support allowance (ESA) assessment in Wrexham and Denbighshire; and how many such people are (a) new claimants and (b) existing ESA recipients.

Mr Mark Harper: The information requested on the number of people waiting for an Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) work capability assessment in Wrexham and Denbighshire Local Authorities is shown in the table below. Number of people whose ESA functional assessment has not yet been completed for initial and repeat assessments in Wrexham and Denbighshire Local Authorities: October 2008 to March 2014.  Initial assessmentsRepeat assessments   Denbighshire700200Wrexham800200  Source: Data in the tables above is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare. Notes:Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.Data is given up to March 2014, which is the latest data available.

Unemployment: Medway

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effects of the benefits cap on reducing unemployment in (a) Medway and (b) Gillingham and Rainham constituency; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: A suite of evaluation was published on 15 December 2014 finding those who would be impacted by the benefit cap were 41 per cent more likely to go into work, as defined by having an open Working Tax Credit claim, than a similar group with benefit entitlement just under the cap level and 38 per cent of those capped said they were doing more to find work. Further information can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-cap-evaluation The number of households capped in Medway Local Authority from the introduction of the benefit cap (on 15 April 2013) to August 2014 (the latest available data) was 239. Of the 109 households who were no longer capped as at August 2014, 36 had an open Working Tax Credit (WTC) claim, indicative of a move into work. This is not a comprehensive measure of moves into work; some individuals may go into work but may not be eligible to claim WTC if their earnings are too high or the hours worked do not meet the claim requirements. The number of households capped in Gillingham and Rainham Parliamentary Constituency from the introduction of the benefit cap (on 15 April 2013) to August 2014 (the latest available data) was 81. Of the 35 households who were no longer capped as at August 2014, 6 had an open Working Tax Credit claim, indicative of a move into work. This is not a comprehensive measure of moves into work; some individuals may go into work but may not be eligible to claim WTC if their earnings are too high or the hours worked do not meet the claim requirements. Further information can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-august-2014

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.

Mr Mark Harper: (i)  This information is available in the public domain. Please see the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system (ii) and (iii) Non Departmental Public Bodies and Executive Agencies:  Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Independent Living Fund (ILF), National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS), The Pensions Regulator (TPR), Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), Pensions Ombudsmen (PO), Pension Protection Fund Ombudsmen (PPFO), Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC): Please note that Remploy Ltd, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Pension Protection Fund are all Public Corporations and are therefore not included in this response.  2009- 20102010-20112011-20122012-20132013-2014EA / NDPBError £Fraud£Error£Fraud £Error£Fraud£Error £Fraud £Error £Fraud £HSE--352.50-------ILF----------NEST-------1.4m--TPAS----------TPR4318-201-------IIAC----------PO----------PPFO----------SSAC----------SMCPCn/an/an/an/an/an/aNo estimateNo estimateNo estimateNo estimate Both HSE and TPR made full recovery in the years the debts were incurred. NEST recovered £0.3 million in May 2014.

Children: Maintenance

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many liability orders for oustanding child maintenance arrears have been issued to non-resident parents in each of the last four years for which figures are available in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) England, (e) Northern Ireland, (f) each local authority area and (g) each Parliamentary constituency.

Steve Webb: Figures on the number of liability orders granted in relation to cases administered by the Child Support Agency is published in table 17 (page 44) of the latest Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics, which contains data up to September 2014. Information on liability orders broken down by country is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. We are not yet in a position to release full statistics on the 2012 Scheme, administered by the Child Maintenance Service, but when system data becomes available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Children: Maintenance

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many liability orders that have been issued for outstanding child maintenance arrears have led to (a) prosecutions, (b) disclosed information about the paying parent to credit reference agencies, (c) new enforcement charges being levied to non-residential parents in (i) the UK, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales, (iv) England, (v) Northern Ireland, (vi) each local authority area and (vii) each parliamentary constituency in each of the last four years for which records are available.

Steve Webb: (a) Information on the number of liability orders that have led to a prosecution is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Figures on the number of prosecutions is published in table 17 (page 44) of the latest Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics, which contains data up to September 2014. (b) Regulations to enable these new powers are due to be laid in Parliament in March 2015 with the intention being that they come into force by the end of the same month. (c) Enforcement charges only relate to the 2012 Scheme, which opened to all applicants on 30 November 2013. We are not yet in a position to release full statistics on the 2012 Scheme, but when system data becomes available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Children: Maintenance

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Child Support Agency has collected in current maintenance and arrears in each of the last four years for which figures are available; and what the total maintenance liabilities were in each such year.

Steve Webb: The table below shows yearly figures for liability accrued and collections towards maintenance and arrears by the Child Support Agency. Rolling 12 Months:Liability Accrued (£m)1Maintenance Collected (£m)Of which, Contribution towards Arrears (£m)March 20111-£768.9£125.1March 20121-£790.8£118.4March 2013£915.7£828.4£167.4March 2014£942.4£849.0£155.8 Notes:1. Annual liability is only available from March 2013 due to new methodology only being available from January 2012. Maintenance Collected and Contribution towards Arrears are based on old methodology for March 2011 and March 2012.

Funerals: Low Incomes

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of paupers' funerals in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) England and (e) Northern Ireland in each of the last four years for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: My department does not collect data on the number of Local Authority funerals.

Funeral Payments

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average time taken to process an application for funeral expenses from the Social Fund from application submission to decision in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) England, (e) Northern Ireland in each of the last four years for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: The average number of working days taken to process applications for funeral payments in England, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain are set out for each of the last four financial years in Table 1 below. Information regarding funeral payments for Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland office. Table 1: Average working days taken to process applications for funeral payments in England, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain, 2010/11 to 2013/14  Financial Year2010/112011/122012/132013/14England14.813.714.618.3Scotland13.914.514.419Wales11.612.816.919.5Great Britain14.513.814.718.4 For additional context, the average monthly clearance times between April 2014 and November 2014 are given in Table 2. As these figures are based on a shorter time frame and Funeral Payment applications vary throughout the year; please note that these figures are not directly comparable to those in Table 1. Table 2: Average number of working days taken to process applications for funeral payments in England, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain, by month, April 2014 to November 2014MonthEnglandWalesScotlandGreat BritainApr-1421.422.920.921.4May-1422.723.720.522.6Jun-1421.323.420.221.3Jul-1417.318.714.917.1Aug-1417.016.513.116.5Sep-1418.418.015.017.9Oct-1419.725.213.219.2Nov-1413.214.117.113.7Apr-14 to Nov-1419.020.316.918.8Notes · These figures do not include applications which were processed clerically and have not been entered on to the Social Fund Computer System.· The clearance time for funeral payment applications is measured in whole working days from the date the application is received until the date the decision is taken.

Children: Maintenance

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was outstanding in child maintenance arrears in each (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) local authority area in each of the last four years.

Steve Webb: (a) The attached document (CM arrears by Parliamentary Constituency) provides a breakdown of outstanding child maintenance arrears on cases administered by the Child Support Agency (CSA) by parliamentary constituency, as at June 2014.  Outstanding child maintenance arrears, on cases administered by the CSA, broken down by local authority is published in the six-monthly regional tables. The latest published regional figures contain data as at June 2014 which can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/347756/csa_qtr_summ_stats_regional_jun14.xls



CM arrears by Parliamentary Constituency
(Excel SpreadSheet, 73.5 KB)

Children: Maintenance

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what amount is outstanding in child maintenance arrears in (a) Airdrie and Shotts constituency and (b) Scotland.

Steve Webb: The table below shows the outstanding maintenance arrears for Child Support Agency (CSA) cases as at June 2014: Airdrie and Shotts£6,714,000Scotland£304,960,000  1. Figures rounded to nearest £1,000.2. Outstanding Arrears figures are the gross arrears position at the end of each quarter sourced from the Agency’s internal MI and relate to outstanding Non-Resident Parent arrears which are then allocated to the Parliamentary Constituency of the Parent with Care. Due to the different sources, figures may differ slightly from CSA’s Annual Report and Accounts.3. Local Authorities and Parliamentary constituencies are determined by the region/country specified on the National Statistics Postcode Directory. Due to slight differences between the areas specified for local authorities and parliamentary constituencies on CSA's management information, overall totals may differ. The sum of the total arrears for Scotland by Parliamentary Constituency differs from the sum by local authority by 0.01%.4. We are not yet in a position to release full statistics on the 2012 Scheme, administered by the Child Maintenance Service, but when system data becomes available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Social Security Benefits

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people who waited longer than five days between their benefit application and a decision on their application in each year since May 2010.

Esther McVey: Benefit processing has improved with 93% of overall claims being processed on time (within 16 days). This is up 7 percentage points since 2009/10. We are unable to answer what estimate has been made however we can provide actual data on the number processed and those processed over five days for working age benefits. See table below. Claims processed in 5 days2010/112011/122012/132013/14YTD 2014/15ESA claims total processed712,369736,108807,889894,919610,027ESA claims processed in over 5 days420,684389,748473,249424,463223,993ESA claims % processed in over 5 days59.1%53.0%58.6%47.4%36.7%  IS claims processed428,099385,028356,580334,332212,130IS claims processed in over 5 days184,143169,913158,188123,55236,517IS claims % processed in over 5 days43.0%44.1%44.4%37.0%17.2%  JSA claims total processed3,350,5443,319,2073,206,2492,828,2351,528,860JSA claims processed in over 5 days2,134,7272,201,5022,151,1051,819,152927,510JSA claims % processed in over 5 days63.7%66.3%67.1%64.3%60.7%  NotesThe data in the tables cover 1st April to 31st March, with the exception of 2014/15 when the Year to Date (YTD) covers 1st April to 30th November SourceFor ESA / IS / JSA – Management Information System Programme (MISP)

Remploy

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 4 October 2013, Official Report, column 487W, how many former Remploy workers are now in employment.

Mr Mark Harper: For all disabled former Remploy workers made redundant as a result of factory closures, the Government put in place the £8 million guaranteed People Help and Support Package (PHSP). The support package provides help to each affected disabled former employee for up to 18 months from the date they left Remploy. Latest figures show that 1,245 former Remploy disabled workers (over 80 per cent) of the 1,507 people who were made redundant and had been supported by a Personal Case Worker were in work and/or had accessed Work Choice support. A total of 1058 jobs have been found for disabled former employees and 774 are currently in work.

State Retirement Pensions

Mr Mike Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people who will reach state pension age in the 12 months from the commencement of the single tier pension who will be eligible to receive state pension at the full rate.

Mr Mike Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people who will reach state pension age in the 12 months from the commencement date of the single tier pension who will receive a reduced pension as a result of (a) having made reduced National Insurance contributions as a consequence of contracting out of (i) SERPS or (ii) 2SP and (b) failure to attain the qualifying threshold of a contribution record of 35 years.

Steve Webb: The Department estimates that of those reaching State Pension Age in 2016-17: · 37% will receive at least the full rate of the new State Pension;· 52% will receive less than the full rate of the new State Pension due to having made reduced National Insurance contributions as a consequence of contracting–out of additional pension (SERPS and/or S2P);· 11% will receive less than the full rate of the new State Pension due to not having achieved 35 qualifying years. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest 1%. These individuals will have their own National Insurance record valued at the higher of the old scheme or new scheme rules. Both old scheme and new scheme valuations will take account of periods of contracted out employment.

Social Security Benefits: Southwark

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with mental health conditions in the London Borough of Southwark have had sanctions imposed on their benefits when claiming for (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance in the last 12 months.

Esther McVey: The information requested for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The information requested is not collected for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants.

Christmas Cards

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which (a) individuals, (b) companies and (c) other organisations receive Christmas cards from his Department.

Steve Webb: The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Home Office

Government Car Service

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cars from the Government Car Service have been allocated to her Department in each of the last four years; and what the total cost to her Department has been of using these cars in each such year.

Karen Bradley: Holding answer received on 05 December 2014



The spend and number of cars are as follows:Financial Year Number of Car Journeys Spend10-11 2,937 £237k11-12 1,310 £3.2m12-13 n/a 541k13-14 n/a 233kThe Government Car Service stopped individual cars in April 2012, and pool cars were introduced. Therefore, there is no individual journey data available from 1 April 2012.In 2011/12 financial year, one-off costs for fleet cars purchased is included in spend.For comparison purposes, from 2005 -2010, the total spend was a total of £14.5m. This is broken down as follows:Financial Year Spend2005-2006£937k2006-2007£5.8m2007-2008£2.2m2008-2009£2.5m2009-2010£3.1mThis Government's record therefore represents a significant saving to the taxpayer.

Social Networking

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2014 to Question 215990, for which campaigns advertisements have been placed on social media; and how much was spent in that fashion on each such campaign.

Karen Bradley: Holding answer received on 05 December 2014



 The Home Office has used social media as one of many channels and approaches to deliver crime prevention and public awareness communications campaigns. The attached table outlines the campaigns for which advertisements have been placed on social media, and a breakdown of how much was spent on this channel per campaign by the Department over the past five financial years. The same points to note apply, specifically:• Spend includes net media costs, excluding production and related fees, and VAT.• Costs for 2014/15 shows campaign spend to date. • There was no spend in the 2010-11 Financial Year due to a Government-wide freeze on marketing and advertising spend.Costs regarding ‘other activity related to social media’ include the cost to measure online conversation (‘buzz monitoring’) on social media channels as a way to evaluate campaign effectiveness.   



Spending on Campaigns
(Word Document, 22.88 KB)

Offences against Children: Databases

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of (a) the number of images which will be transferred from the National Hash Set Database to the Child Abuse Image Database and (b) the number of those images which have been verified by three experts.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of images which will be included in the Child Abuse Image Database as its launch.

Mike Penning: Holding answer received on 08 December 2014



At its launch, the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) contained around 4.4m unique images. This includes every file from the Cheshire Constabulary image library, which sits alongside the interim National Hash Set Database, that has been graded as an indecent image of a child or related material by at least one police force - around 3.53m images. Approximately 870,000 additional images which did not previously appear in the Cheshire library have been provided by other police forces. All 4.4m images appearing on CAID have an indicative categorisation based on police force grading. At present, the number of these images that have three independent, undisputed votes is approximately 600,000. This figure will increase as the database is used by more forces.

Offences against Children

Mr David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pornographic images of children were removed from the internet as a result of investigations by (a) police forces and (b) her Department's agencies in the areas of (i) Suffolk, (ii) Bedfordshire, (iii) Cambridgeshire, (iv) Essex, (v) Hertfordshire, (vi) Norfolk and (vii) England in each year since 2010.

Mike Penning: This information is not held centrally. The Internet Watch Foundation runs the UK reporting centre for indecent images of children, and works with its internet industry partners to take down websites hosting such images in the UK. It is also part of a global network of agencies to whom it refers cases involving websites hosted overseas, where the majority of images are found. The Internet Watch Foundation will use the hash set database that forms part of the Child Abuse Image Database to proactively search for and remove indecent images of children.

Tickets: Fraud

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress Action Fraud has made on collating reports of linked ticket fraud.

Karen Bradley: Action Fraud is operated by the City of London Police, the national lead force for fraud. Crime reports received by Action Fraud are considered by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). For all types of fraud, the NFIB analyses these reports to determine whether there is enough evidence to support an investigation, draws out links between cases, and sends out actionable intelligence packages for police forces to consider for enforcement action.Action Fraud and the NFIB have developed and maintained strong engagement with many major event ticket providers. Work conducted in the run up to and during the Olympics and Commonwealth Games established a model of best practice which is now in use. Prior to events, Action Fraud and the NFIB, work with the event organisers to deliver greater awareness, through multiple channels, of the dangers of ticketing fraud. They also work with internet service providers to take disruption activity when fraud is identified in order to prevent further loss and work with law enforcement partners to take enforcement action where possible.

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) her Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.

Karen Bradley: Previously reported fraud data was collected on behalf of HM Treasury. Archived reports can be found at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110402/http:/www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/psr_managing_risk_of_fraud.htmCurrently the Home Office collects data for inclusion in the Quarterly Data Survey, as part of a Cabinet Office initiative, and shows combined totals of reported fraud and error for the Home Office and its executive agencies.The Home Office has collected data for financial error since 2012/13, and is also published as part of a broader Cabinet Office initiative within the Quarterly Data Summary. Prior to 2012-13, the Home Office did not report the value of financial error data. The Home Office does not collect data on financial error for Non-Departmental Public Bodies.

Animal Experiments

Mr Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 28 March 2011 to Question 45398, whether it remains the policy of her Department that a ban on the testing of household products on animals will apply to both finished products and ingredients; whether there is now a definition of household products; and when the ban will be implemented.

Lynne Featherstone: We have made a commitment to ban the testing of household products on animals. Although superficially straightforward, this issue has not been easy to resolve. The key issue is around ingredients. We are currently engaging with stakeholders to develop a solution that is workable, but does not have a chain of unforeseen circumstances. Any solution has to be legally viable since we cannot ban testing which may be required under UK or EU law. The solution we develop must not preclude research that is a lawful requirement nor that which has significant benefits to people, the environment or animals. Nor should it drive research overseas.There is, at present, no authoritative definition of household products in the United Kingdom or European legislation. Through stakeholder engagement we are seeking to develop an agreed definition.

Animal Experiments

Mr Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many animals were used for testing (a) finished household products and (b) household product ingredients in each of the last five years.

Lynne Featherstone: The Home Office does not collect data on the number of animals used in scientific procedures for testing (a) finished household products or (b) household product ingredients. It does however collect data on the number of animals used in procedures undertaken for the testing of substances used in the household, in Great Britain.In 2010 there were 24 animals used in procedures for the testing of substances used in the household. In 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 there were no animals used in procedures for the testing of substances used in the household.

Crossbows

Dr Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what controls there are on the sale of crossbows.

Lynne Featherstone: The sale of crossbows is subject to the Crossbows Act 1987, as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. Under this legislation, it is an offence to sell or hire a crossbow, with a draw weight of 1.4 kilogrammes or greater, to persons under the age of 17, and it prohibits persons aged under 17 from possessing a crossbow unless supervised by someone aged 21 or over. The maximum penalty on summary conviction is six months imprisonment or a £5,000 fine or both.

Proceeds of Crime

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Criminal Finances Improvement Plan 2014, what steps she is taking to work with the private sector to maximise asset recovery.

Karen Bradley: Attacking criminal finances is central to our Serious and Organised Crime Strategy. Under the criminal finances improvement plan we are working across Government and with operational partners to explore how private sector skills and capabilities can be deployed to maximise asset recovery.Our work with private sector partners specifically includes:• The Government is exploring new ways of working with the private sector to improve the enforcement of confiscation orders. • The Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office have completed a review of the use of receivers to enforce confiscation orders, resulting in the launch of an improved framework for the use of enforcement receivers. • HM Courts and Tribunal Service is actively seeking an external provider for the future delivery of compliance and enforcement services for criminal financial impositions. This includes the collection and enforcement of fines, compensation, prosecutor costs, victims surcharge, fixed penalties and Confiscation Orders.

Proceeds of Crime

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Criminal Finances Improvement Plan 2014, what steps she is taking to strengthen her Department's ability to recover assets hidden overseas.

Karen Bradley: Attacking criminal finances is central to our Serious and Organised Crime Strategy. Under the Criminal Finances Improvement Plan, the Government is working with operational partners to strengthen the ability to recover assets hidden overseas.Earlier this month the Government adopted the EU measures on the mutual recognition of confiscation orders, which should result in improved asset recovery from EU countries. The measure also includes an asset sharing agreement with all of the other 27 EU Member States. The Government continues to seek asset sharing agreements with other key jurisdictions outside the EU. Specialist Crown Prosecution Service Asset Recovery Advisors have been appointed for Spain, UAE, the Caribbean and Europe, with a further post in South Africa to be filled early in the new year. There has already been improvements to performance as a result of this activity, including the first ever return of UK criminal assets from the UAE.

Crimes against Property: Worcester

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on (a) the level of reported property crime including burglaries for each of the last five years in Worcester and (b) the proportion of such crimes that have been solved.

Lynne Featherstone: Data supplied by police forces and held by the Home Office relate to the number of property crimes recorded by (rather than reported to) the police. Figures for each of the last 5 years for South Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership (CSP) are given in the table. The whole of the Worcester constituency is contained within this CSP.The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the outcomes of crimes at CSP level. This information is only held at police force area level.   



Table 1
(Excel SpreadSheet, 19.5 KB)

Rape

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which police forces have reviewed all rape reports classified as no crime since the publication of HMIC's report on crime data integrity; how far back each such review went; and how many cases were re-classified as a result.

Mike Penning: Violent offences, such as rape, are devastating crimes that ruin lives. We expect every crime report to be taken seriously, every crime to be recorded, every investigation to be conducted thoroughly and professionally, and every victim to be treated with dignity. Under this Government, the overall no-crime rate for rape has fallen year-on- year from 12.6% in 2009/10 to 7.3% in 2013/14. It is encouraging that a number of forces have stated a determination to further bring down no-crime rates for rape. A specific sample of rape cases was collected and assessed by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) as part of its audit of crime recording quality. It found that 20 % of no-crime decisions in that sample for rape were incorrect and in 22 % of those cases there was no evidence that the police informed the complainant of their decision.Whilst we do not hold data in the manner described in the question, the Government expects to see police and crime commissioners and chief constables using HMIC’s inspection findings to improve the way their force responds to rape and supports victims. It is encouraging that some forces have already announced reviews of earlier no-crime decisions, following the HMIC inspections. Where HMIC has made recommendations for individual forces, we expect police and crime commissioners and chief constables to take them seriously and take every step to further improve recording in their force.

Christmas Cards

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which (a) individuals, (b) companies and (c) other organisations receive Christmas cards from her Department.

Karen Bradley: The Home Secretary and other Home Office Ministers send electronic Christmas cards to a range of individuals and organisations involved in cutting crime, reducing immigration and preventing terrorism. I wish the Hon. Member a Merry Christmas too.

Northern Ireland Office

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much her Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Because of the devolution of policing and justice functions on 12 April 2010, and subsequent re-configuration of the Northern Ireland Office, my Department does not hold figures for the periods prior to 2010; attempting to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.My Department has spent the following amounts on taxis, first class train travel and business class air travel: (a) Taxis  2010-11£16,262.002011-12£26,811.00 2012-13£10,503.002013-14£6017.00(b) First Class Rail Travel 2010-11£311.002011-12£1,729.002012-13£770.002013-14£72.00(c) Business Class Air Travel 2010-11£65,825.002011-12£44,898.002012-13£29,092.002013-14£33,088.00

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the resources of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to maintain security and police terrorism.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is in regular contact with the Chief Constable and the Minister of Justice in Northern Ireland to ensure that we understand the impact of funding reductions imposed by the Northern Ireland Executive on the PSNI’s ability to police the terrorist threat. The Chief Constable has stated that he will need to re-prioritise resources to minimise the effect of these budget reductions. This matter is kept under constant review.This Government has provided additional security funding of £231m to support PSNI in their efforts to tackle the threat from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism. This funding is not affected by the budget reductions imposed by the Northern Ireland Executive.

Department of Health

Health Professions: Regulation

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what amount each of the healthcare regulators charged for annual registration fees in each of the last five years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 15 December 2014.The correct answer should have been:

The regulatory bodies are independent and it is therefore for them to set their fees appropriately. All professional regulators, are aware of the Governments position, as set out in the 2011 Command Paper, `Enabling Excellence’, that we would not expect registration fees to increase, unless there is a clear and strong case that any increase is essential to ensure the exercise of statutory duties. There are eight Healthcare Professions Regulatory Bodies (excluding the Pharmaceutical Society in Northern Ireland where responsibility is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly). The Department does not hold information on the fees of the regulatory bodies. However, we have obtained data from each of the regulatory bodies on the Annual Retention Fee for the last five years which shows:  Annual Retention Fee for Healthcare Professions Regulatory Bodies 2010-2015 YearNursing and Midwifery CouncilHealth and Care Professions CouncilGeneral Optical CouncilGeneral Medical CouncilGeneral Osteopathic CouncilGeneral Pharmaceutical CouncilGeneral Dental CouncilGeneral Chiropractic Council2014-15£100£80£290£390£570£240£576£8002013-14£100£76£260£390£610£240£576£8002012-13£76£76£260£390£655£240£576£8002011-12£76£76£270£390£750£267£576£8002010 -11£76£76£280 (Dispensing optician)£325 (Optometrist)£420£750£262£438£1,000  The Department does not hold data on the number of investigations that have been carried out by each of the healthcare professions regulatory bodies. We understand that this information is published by each of the regulatory bodies. The Department has five national bodies which have regulatory functions. They are the Care Quality Commission, Monitor, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Human Tissue Authority and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. None of these bodies charge an annual registration fee but all except Monitor they do receive income from a range of fees that are applied.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The regulatory bodies are independent and it is therefore for them to set their fees appropriately. All professional regulators, are aware of the Governments position, as set out in the 2011 Command Paper, `Enabling Excellence’, that we would not expect registration fees to increase, unless there is a clear and strong case that any increase is essential to ensure the exercise of statutory duties. There are eight Healthcare Professions Regulatory Bodies (excluding the Pharmaceutical Society in Northern Ireland where responsibility is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly). The Department does not hold information on the fees of the regulatory bodies. However, we have obtained data from each of the regulatory bodies on the Annual Retention Fee for the last five years which shows:  Annual Retention Fee for Healthcare Professions Regulatory Bodies 2010-2015 YearNursing and Midwifery CouncilHealth and Care Professions CouncilGeneral Optical CouncilGeneral Medical CouncilGeneral Osteopathic CouncilGeneral Pharmaceutical CouncilGeneral Dental CouncilGeneral Chiropractic Council2014-15£100£80£290£390£570£240£576£8002013-14£100£76£260£390£610£240£576£8002012-13£76£76£260£390£655£240£576£8002011-12£76£76£270£390£750£267£576£8002010 -11£76£76£280 (Dispensing optician)£325 (Optometrist)£420£750£262£438£1,000  The Department does not hold data on the number of investigations that have been carried out by each of the healthcare professions regulatory bodies. We understand that this information is published by each of the regulatory bodies. The Department has five national bodies which have regulatory functions. They are the Care Quality Commission, Monitor, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Human Tissue Authority and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. None of these bodies charge an annual registration fee but all except Monitor they do receive income from a range of fees that are applied.

General Practitioners

Miss Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many referrals were made by GPs to hospitals in England in December (a) 2010, (b) 2012 and (c) 2014.

Jane Ellison: The numbers of referrals made by general practitioners (GPs) to hospitals in England in December 2010 and December 2012 are shown in the table below. The data for December 2014 will be available in February 2015.   Referrals made by GPs to all specialties, December 2010 and December 2012  GP referrals made (all specialties)December 2010757,046December 2012802,987 Source: Monthly Activity Return, NHS England

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many staff are employed in his Department's headquarter buildings.

Dr Daniel Poulter: With the exception of its main headquarters building, Richmond House, all of the Department’s headquarters buildings are shared with staff from its arm’s length bodies. The number of staff employed by the Department and its arm’s length bodies in each of its headquarters buildings is as follows:  BuildingNumber of staff employedRichmond House1,142Skipton House1,764Quarry House1,779Wellington House1,232Premier House110Blenheim House189Runcorn34Burnley13Total6,263

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what requirements his Department has placed on clinical commissioning groups to make financial savings in the last four years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: In its mandate for NHS England, the Government sets a clear objective for NHS England to secure improvements in value for money across the NHS in order to maximise resources for frontline patient care.   NHS England has responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations. While NHS England does not set specific financial savings targets for them, CCGs need to manage their expenditure within their allocation whilst meeting the business rules as set out in the planning guidance, including setting out clear and credible plans for making efficiency improvements.

Medway Maritime Hospital

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many additional members of medical staff have been hired by Medway Maritime Hospital since it was placed in special measures.

Jane Ellison: This information is not collected centrally.   We have written to Shena Winning, Chair of the Medway NHS Foundation Trust informing her of my hon. Friend’s enquiry. She will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

Diabetes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on promoting the use of (a) disposable sensors and (b) other alternatives to glucose blood-testing strips for diabetes patients.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is not aware of any published data which demonstrates that disposable sensors are more effective or less expensive than current methods of self-monitoring of blood glucose.   However, it will consider any relevant studies relating to alternatives to blood testing strips for diabetes patients when they are published.

Diabetes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the NHS of hypo attacks brought on by type-1 diabetes.

Jane Ellison: This information is not held centrally.

Diabetes: Scotland

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the diabetes improvement plan recently announced by the Scottish Government.

Jane Ellison: The NHS Five Year Forward View, published in October, sets out a vision for the future of the NHS in England. It articulates why change is needed, what that change might look like and how it can be achieved.   For diabetes, NHS England aims to ensure that England becomes the first country to implement at scale a national evidence based diabetes prevention programme, modelled on proven United Kingdom and international models, linked where appropriate with the NHS Health Check programme. The focus on preventing diabetes is also one of the priorities identified in the Scottish Government’s diabetes improvement plan.

Veterans: Rehabilitation

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding his Department has provided to each charity involved in the rehabilitation of veterans of the armed forces in (a) each year since 2010 and (b) 2014 to date.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Department has not provided any direct funding for Service Charities to provide rehabilitation services to veterans of the armed forces.   However, since 2010 the Department has invested over £22.5 million to improve both mental and physical health services for veterans and used additional funding from LIBOR fines to banks to broaden the range of services available, including £2 million to Combat Stress to provide specific services for those veterans with alcohol problems and £2.7 million to help for Heroes for their Hidden Wounds programme providing mental health support for veterans.

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme: Scotland

Mike Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what basis the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme rebate allocation has been calculated for Scotland.

George Freeman: Companies pay all Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme payments to the Department of Health in England. The total United Kingdom payments will be allocated to each of the four UK countries in a fair way and the estimated payments for England have been included within the NHS England budget. The method for apportioning 2014-15 payments will be based on primary care data for spend on licensed branded medicines, as the most consistent data set available across the UK. Income will be apportioned using prescribing data for the same period as the income relates, on a quarterly basis.

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) adults and (b) people under 18 have been admitted to hospital because of a sexually-transmitted infection in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: It is not possible to provide the information broken down by age as requested. Information for people of all ages is shown in the table below:   Total number of finished admission episodes with a primary diagnosis of a sexually transmitted infection for each year from 2008-09 to 2012-13. Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector   YearFinished Admission Episodes2008-092,7032009-102,7302010-112,7602011-122,6402012-132,414  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Department’s travel and expenses policy clearly states that taxis are an expensive form of publicly available transport and should only be considered if their use is cost effective and delivers a business benefit.   Taxis must not be used for journeys of more than five miles unless no other form of public transport is available. Only exceptionally should taxis be used for journeys between the Department’s London offices, or in Leeds when the Leeds Shuttle Bus is unavailable. The combined total amount spent on taxi travel by all calendar years was £877,542 between 2009 and December 2014 and the total expenditure is comprised of management information through I-Expenses and Business Management System (BMS) as noted from the tables below. The following table is as taken from I-Expenses: YearTaxi Expenditure2009£138,3322010£122,0352011£87,1102012£73,2132013£54,4422014£44,390Total£519,522   The following information has been drawn from the Department’s Business Management System (BMS). BMS is a centralised database which was introduced in July 2008. It allows the Department to collect detail on the categorisation, purpose and value of orders and purchases.   YearTaxi Expenditure2009£298,2862010£31,6882011£5,4302012£7,8412013£9,5502014£5,225Total£358,020   The Department’s travel policy states that all rail travel must be standard class regardless of grade unless there is a clear business need to travel first class. First class rail tickets will require senior civil servant approval.   The total amount spent on first class travel by calendar year was £5,570,735 between 2009 and up to December 2014 as noted in the following table.   YearTotal Spend2009£3,139,973 2010£1,967,6162011£264,4902012£95,7272013£58,0672014£44,862Total£5,570,735 For comparison, equivalent spend on first class trains from 2005 to 2008 was:   YearTotal Spend2005£2,935,3012006£3,425,3832007£3,450,5362008£4,469,270Total£14,280,490 The Department books the following classes of flights; economy, premium economy, and business class. Economy class is the default booking and an approved business case is required to book business class. If a flight is upgraded free of charge to business class, a business case is not required, although the management information will record a business class flight was taken.   The total amount spent on business class flights by calendar year was £1,090,466 between 2009 and December 2014.   YearTotal Spend2009£552,3422010£217,6742011£161,1982012£98,7522013£38,0502014£22,450Total£1,090,466   For comparison, equivalent spend on business class flights from 2005 to 2008 was:   YearTotal Spend2005£636,5952006£483,7242007£491,9362008£596,350Total£2,208,605

Drugs: Licensing

Mr Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what medical research charities he has met to discuss the Off-patent Drugs Bill.

George Freeman: We will be discussing a number of issues the Bill raises at a roundtable stakeholder event in the new year and which will include a number of representatives from medical research charities.

Drugs: Licensing

Mr Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health of 7 November 2014, Official Report, column 1118, what the evidential basis is for the statement that the Off-patent Drugs Bill will impede the uptake of innovative medicines by making doctors feel that they should not use medicines except for their licensed indications.

George Freeman: Under current arrangements clinicians can prescribe for their patients the medicine which best meets their clinical needs, including medicines outside their licensed indications. The Bill proposes changes to these arrangements by introducing, for the first time, a duty to apply for a licence when a new indication for an off-patent drug becomes apparent. We are concerned this will carry a message that off-label prescribing is not allowed without a licence and thus end the current flexibility that allows clinicians to make their patients’ needs their first concern.

Drugs: Licensing

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what dates since 2 July 2014 he has discussed with GPs the use of off-patent drugs for new indications; and what the content of those discussions was.

George Freeman: In developing our response to the Off-patent Drugs Bill, we have taken advice from clinicians and officials at NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and taken account of views expressed by other stakeholder organisations. We will be discussing a number of issues the Bill raises at a roundtable stakeholder event in the new year and we plan to invite a number of general practitioner representatives.

Health Services: Private Sector

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information he holds on how many members of staff of his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies have left to take up jobs or positions in the independent healthcare sector in (a) each year since 2010 and (b) 2014 to date.

Dr Daniel Poulter: No information is held about the intended work destinations of civil servants from the graded structure (grades AO to G6) leaving the Department to work in other organisations.   However, for Senior Civil Servants (SCS), the SCS unit in the Department’s human resources section does hold the information presented in the table below. “The independent healthcare sector” is interpreted to mean private sector healthcare companies that are contracted by the National Health Service in the provision of healthcare or in the support of the provision of healthcare. The following table sets out the numbers of individuals who have sought approval to take up jobs or positions in the independent healthcare sector in each financial year since 2009-10 and in the financial year 2014 to date. 2009-1042010-1112011-1272012-1332013-1442014-Date4   The Department does not hold the information requested centrally in respect of its executive agencies and executive non-departmental public bodies. The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) does not hold data on the destination of leavers from its predecessor body prior to 1 April 2013. In 2013-14, three of its leavers indicated that they were going to take up jobs in the private healthcare sector. The Department’s executive agencies and other executive non-departmental public bodies do not hold this information.

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my Rt. hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), on 15 December 2014 to Question 217821.

Stationery

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on (a) stationery and (b) printing costs in (i) each of the last four years and (ii) 2014-15 to date.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Holding answer received on 16 December 2014



Spend on stationery and printing costs as categorised within the Department’s Business Management System in each of the financial years 2008-09 to 2013-14 and including for 2014-15 from April to November 2014 is provided in the table below. Departmental comparison spend for 2008-09 to 2009-10 where available is noted below.  2008-092009-10Stationery£578,878£839,240Printing costs£10,996,079£12,577,335Total£11,574,957£13,416,5752010-112011-122012-132013-14*2014-15Stationery£329,099£110,814£175,299£33,230£21,009Printing costs£4,547,960£3,073,582£6,487,117£2,512,911£294,152Total£4,877,059£3,184,396£6,662,416£2,546,141£315,161 *Spend from 1 April to 30 November. Note: Information from 2005 -2007 is not available given the Department’s Business Management System was only introduced from mid-July 2008. 2008/09 data is not full year. Equivalent spends from all the Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies as defined are provided below: Care Quality Commission (CQC) CQC comparison spend for the period 2005 to 2010 where available is noted below.  2005/062006/072007/082008/092009/10Stationery£411,742Printing costs£7,208Total£0£0£0£0£418,9502010/112011/122012/132013/14*2014/15Stationery£268,929£388,236£438,646£567,638£589,194Printing costs£14,587£405,577£330,413£584,795£445,451Total£283,516£793,813£769,059£1,152,433£1,034,645*Spend from 1 April to 30 November.Note: The CQC did not come into existence until 2009 following the merger of the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Mental Health Act Commission. Monitor  2010/112011/122012/132013/14*2014/15Stationery£48,470£74,510£93,983£166,689£84,792Printing costs£34,182£40,619£57,228£34,220-Total£86,652£115,129£151,211£200,909£84,792 *Spend from 1 April to 30 November. Monitor comparison spend from 2005-2010 is not available. Public Health England (PHE) PHE finance system does not have account codes which match those described precisely. However, the following spend is provided: (a) Full Year 2013/14 spend on Office Consumables and Stationery was £1.3 million. For the part year to end of November 2014, PHE spend on Office Consumables and Stationery was £0.8 million. (b) Full Year 2013/14 spend on Printing and Publishing was £459,000. For the part year to end of November 2014, PHE spend on Printing and Publishing was £309,000. PHE comparison spend for 2005-10 will not be available as they were not an appointed arm’s length body (ALB) within this period. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)  2010/112011/122012/132013/14*2014/15Stationery000£3,280£2,062Printing costs000£28,720£6,400Total£0£0£0£32,000£8,462 *Spend from 1 April to 30 November. Information for all previous years to this timescale marked as zero are from older HFEA finance systems stored offline and are not readily available. HFEA comparison spend from 2005-2010 is not available. Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)  2010/112011/122012/132013/14*2014/15Stationery000£88,763£47,344Printing costs000£318,606£285,909Total£0£0£0£407,369£333,253 *Spend from 1 April to 30 November. As the HSCIC only formed on 1 April 2013 there is no information for this arm’s length body (ALB) prior to that date. HSCIC comparison spend for 2005-10 is not available as they were not an appointed ALB within this period. NHS England  2010/112011/122012/13**2013/14*2014/15Stationery00£12,500£4,369,917£1,995,020Printing costs00£65,079£5,532,369£3,267,299Total£0£0£77,079£9,902,286£5,262,319*Spend from 1 April to 30 November.   **Spend from 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013 - when the former NHS Commissioning Board became an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body.   Information for NHS England comparison spend for 2005-10 is not available as they were not an appointed ALB in this period. Human Tissue Authority (HTA) HTA comparison spend for all years 2005-06 to 2014-15 where captured are noted below.  2005/06*2006/072007/082008/092009/10Stationery £12,214£19,674£14,449£18,377Printing costs £36,152£28,139£52,290£62,842Total£0£48,366£47,813£66,739£81,219 *No 2005/06 data is available as this was the year HTA were created  2010/112011/122012/132013/14*2014/15Stationery£28,926£20,302£17,001£15,711£7,529Printing costs£8,388£5,116£5,056£5,850£3,873Total£37,314£25,418£22,057£21,561£11,402 *Spend from 1 April to 30 November. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) NICE comparison spend for all years 2005-06 to 2014-15 where captured are noted below.  2005/062006/072007/082008/092009/10Stationery£71,990£56,024£55,898£52,813£66,129Printing costs (Other)£402,609£469,012£651,296£437,866£454,955Printing costs (BNF)----£699,406Total£474,599£525,036£707,194£490,678£1,220,4902010/112011/122012/132013/14*2014/15Stationery£55,629£59,542£71,450£ 61,764£573,035Printing costs£412,159£181,215£ 99,208£631,016£28,053Total£467,788£240,757£170,658£692,780£601,088 *Spend from 1 April to 30 November.   Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) MHRA comparison spend for all years 2005-06 to 2014-15 where captured are noted below.  2005/062006/072007/082008/092009/10Stationery£203,804£134,428£103,185£137,052£111,913Printing costs£723,505£313,410£389,207£318,340£249,794Total£927,309£447,838£492,392£455,392£361,707   With NIBSCWith NIBSC 2010/112011/122012/132013/14*2014/15Stationery£104,572£85,511£92,039£178,364£141,676Printing costs£446,271£42,157£155,702£200,887£99,243Total£550,843£127,668£247,741£379,251£240,919 *Spend from 1 April to 30 November. On 1 April 2013 the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) became part of the MHRA and hence its costs are included for 2013/14 and 2014/15.

Driving: Diabetes

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) the reporting by motorists and (b) the recording by healthcare professionals of severe hypoglycaemic events suffered by motorists.

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that drivers with type 2 diabetes are not prescribed medications known to cause hypoglycaemic events.

Jane Ellison: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport’s key responsibility is to maintain road safety for all road users. Those who are not medically fit to drive should not be issued with a driving licence. Information on the current medical standards of fitness to drive can be found at:   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/at-a-glance   It is for motorists with diabetes to inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) when they have experienced a severe hypoglycaemic event. The DVLA provides information to drivers with diabetes and to healthcare professionals on the symptoms of hypoglycaemia. A guide for people with diabetes on when to inform the DVLA depending on how their condition is treated and the type of licence held is available at:   https://www.gov.uk/diabetes-driving   The DVLA has also issued new information for drivers with insulin-treated diabetes completing DIAB-1 medical forms which makes it clear what is meant by a ‘severe hypoglycaemic event’.   Healthcare professionals who prescribe and supply any medicines, including those for diabetes that may affect their driving should advise patients not to drive if the medicine causes drowsiness.

Hepatitis

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS England has taken to reduce the prevalence of hepatitis C.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is working collaboratively with other commissioners, and both national and regional cross-organisational groups are in place to promote a coherent approach to maximise reduction in harm due to this disease. Commissioning of local services for hepatitis is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups and patients with hepatitis C are often seen for treatment of their other health issues within services commissioned by local authorities. Public Health England and the National Health Service continue to promote the need for testing and treatment and are developing a long term strategy to address hepatitis C.

NHS: Safety

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of clinical commissioning groups have signed up to the five NHS Sign up to Safety pledges.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Nineteen clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have signed up to the five NHS Sign up to Safety Pledges as of 16 December 2014.   This represents 9% of all CCGs.   The Sign up to Safety campaign was launched in June of this year and continues to recruit new organisations.

Parents: Education

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department spent on parenting programmes in England in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each of the last five years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Strong and confident parenting can strengthen the well-being of families and improve outcomes for children. It is for this reason that, since 2012, the Government has been funding the trial of CANParent – a network of organisations providing high quality, universal parenting classes and advice, informed by robust evidence.   From 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013, the total amount spent on the CANParent trial was £1,248,640. From 1 April 2013 to the end of March 2014, the total was £2,228,806. The funds were allocated from the budget of the Department for Education.   The Trial was extended for one year, with responsibility transferred to the Department for Health, and will now run until March 2015. The budget for the one year extension of the CANParent trial stands at £1,286,000 for the 2014-15 financial year. No further funds have been committed to the project.   Market development work following on from the initial two-year trial, led by Family Lives, was transferred to the Department of Health from the Department of Education on 1 April 2014 and is due to run until 31 March 2015. The budget for that work stands at £1,140,758.   Parenting classes are also provided by local authorities and third sector organisations. Data on total spend on parenting classes is not collected centrally.

Bladder Cancer: Drugs

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2014 to Question 217880, if he will estimate the number of patients with bladder cancer who have had treatment delayed due to a shortage of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin drugs, including OncoTICE.

George Freeman: The Department does not hold centrally information on the number of patients whose treatment for bladder cancer will be affected, or whether patients currently receiving Bacillus Calmette-Guérin treatment for bladder cancer have had their treatment suspended because of a shortage of vaccine supplies.   We are working closely with the suppliers to help ensure that supplies are available for United Kingdom patients. We are also in close contact with the British Association of Urological Surgeons who have issued advice for clinicians.

NHS: Finance

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many individual funding requests have been made to NHS England in each month since April 2013; and how many have of those been refused.

George Freeman: The information requested is shown in the table.   MonthTotal number of individual funding requests receivedTotal number of requests declinedApril 201349088May 2013719108June 201351069July 201351399August 201342365September 201334568October 201344298November 201335086December 201333049January 201436262February 201432351March 201431654April 201430441May 201433856June 201431441July 201435874August 201430956September 201429650October 201430672November 201424638 Source: NHS England   This information does not include applications for cancer medicines as these are either routinely commissioned or handled via the Cancer Drugs Fund. NHS England publishes quarterly information on the number of individual Cancer Drugs Fund applications, including those refused. This information is available at:   www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/

Cancer

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average wait from referral to treatment is for patients categorised as urgent who are not on the two-week cancer pathway.

Jane Ellison: The information is not collected in the format requested.   NHS England collects and publishes monthly data on referral to treatment (RTT) consultant-led waiting times. These include information on the average (median) time waited by patients who started treatment during the month. Information is collected on all elective patients on an RTT pathway, and does not identify those patients who have been categorised as ‘urgent’. Patients on an RTT pathway may also be on a cancer pathway but this also cannot be identified in RTT data.

Cataracts

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cataract operations were performed in NHS hospitals in each year since 2009-10.

Jane Ellison: The following table provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre shows the number of finished consultant episodes where a cataract procedure was performed by National Health Service providers in England between 2009-10 and 2012-13.   YearFinished Consultant Episodes 2009-10327,656 2010-11314,188 2011-12303,694 2012-13298,332 Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre Note: The figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.

NHS: Finance

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the budget of (a) Monitor and (b) the Trust Development Authority was in each of the last five years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The budgets of Monitor in each of the last five years are set out in the following table:   Monitor2010-11£k2011-12 £k2012-13 £k2013-14 £k 2014-15£k Administration revenue resource budget16,50016,20048,300note 1 52,450 67,300Programme revenue resource budget005,80014,05017,500Total of above: revenue resource budget16,50016,20054,10066,50084,800Ringfenced Revenue Budget00 0 1,0061,400Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) revenue budget0003090Capital resource budget0005005,000   Note 1: Includes £19.2 million transition funding in 2012-13 in readiness for its broadened remit under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, effective from 1 April 2013.   The NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) was legally established as a Special Health Authority in June 2012, and took on its full responsibilities from 1 April 2013. The budgets of NHS TDA in each of the subsequent years are set out in the following table:   NHS TDA2012-13 £k2013-14 £k 2014-15 £k Administration revenue resource budget2,39022,18631,877Programme revenue resource budget017,93023,500Total of above: revenue resource budget2,39040,11655,377Ringfenced Revenue Budget 0 118147Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) revenue budget0(135)0Capital resource budget70400500

NHS: Per Capita Costs

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost per head of the NHS in (a) cash and (b) real terms was in England in each of the last 15 years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The following table shows health spend per head in cash and real terms in England from 1998-99 to 2012-13.   YearSpend per head – cash (£)Spend per head – real terms 2012-13 prices (£)1998-997401,0191999-008181,1152000-018961,1942001-029881,2972002-031,0821,3842003-041,2181,5272004-051,3531,6442005-061,4511,7162006-071,5151,7442007-081,6221,8142008-091,7121,8682009-101,8361,9532010-111,8611,9262011-121,8741,9052012-131,9121,912   Notes: GDP deflators as at 5 December 20142012-13 is latest available data   Source: HM Treasury Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses

NHS: Working Hours

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much was spent on out-of-hours services in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each of the last five years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Department of Health has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Nurses and Ancilliary Staff

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the ratio of (a) acute, elderly and general nurses to acute, elderly and general nurses health care assistants and (b) all qualified nurses to health care assistants was in each year since 2009-10.

Jane Ellison: The Health and Social Care Information Centre publish monthly workforce statistics and the latest available data for September 2014 shows that compared to May 2010, there are now 3,355 more nurses, midwives and health visiting staff, and 7,749 more staff providing support to doctors and nurses, working in the National Health Service in England.   Support to clinical staff is not undertaken solely by healthcare assistants. There are other staff that provide similar support, such as nursing auxiliaries and support workers. These staff support both doctors and nurses; it is not possible to separately identify those that provide support only to nurses.   The ratio of nurses working in the acute, elderly and general (A,E and G) area of work to the numbers of the support to doctors and nurses staff group that work in the A,E and G area of work is included in the attached table.   Similarly, the ratio of the total numbers of the nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff group to the numbers of the support to doctors and nurses staff group is included in the attached table. 



Qualified nurses to support staff ratio
(Excel SpreadSheet, 28.83 KB)

Radiotherapy

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients requiring proton beam therapy were treated overseas in each of the last five years; and how many such patients were on the high priority list of cancers.

Jane Ellison: The number of patients accepted for proton beam therapy treatment overseas for the last five years are as follows:   2009-10: 34 patients 2010-11: 54 patients 2011-12: 74 patients 2012-13: 99 patients 2013-14: 124 patients Total: 385 patients   All of these patients were treated in accordance with the clinical indications list.

Radiotherapy

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many fully functional linear accelerators were used for radiotherapy treatment in the NHS in England in each of the last 10 years; and how many fractions of such treatment NHS England delivered in that period.

Jane Ellison: England only data for the number of linear accelerators is only available for 2011-12 and 2013-14, as follows:   - 2011-12: 265 machines, however the details relating to full clinical use are not available. - 2013-14: 269 machines, of which 256 in full clinical use.   From 2009-10 throughput has been measured in attendances. This was as a result of a drive to standardise coding practice across England. This answer therefore presents information on attendances for each of the years since 1999 and information on fractions up until 2009-10. A conversion factor of 1 fraction to 0.87 attendances has been used. The data available has been attached to this response.   



Radiotherapy activity in England
(Word Document, 16.51 KB)

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much each commissioning support unit received in income from clinical commissioning groups since 2013-14.

Dr Daniel Poulter: NHS England advises that the total Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) income from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in 2013-14 was £602.1 million.   CSU 2013-14 Income from CCGs:   CSUCCG Income £kAnglia16,426Arden23,062Central Midlands25,513Central Southern37,694Essex23,590Greater East Midlands48,228Greater Manchester35,848Hertfordshire Integrated17,946Kent and Medway21,226South West18,914Staffordshire & Lancashire43,840North and East London55,359North Of England37,720North West London32,156North Yorkshire & Humber24,153South22,712South London46,240Surrey and Sussex9,909West Yorkshire36,124Cheshire and Merseyside25,461Grand Total602,123   The total planned income (full year) for CSUs from CCGs in 2014-15 is £610.2 million.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of people in England referred for Early Intervention in Psychosis services received help within two weeks of being referred in the last (a) quarter and (b) year for which information is available.

Norman Lamb: Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020, published October 2014, articulates our ambition and the immediate actions we will take this year and next to achieve better waiting times in mental health services. This includes access to a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-approved package of care within two weeks, for more than 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis.   The Health and Social Care Information Centre has provided the following information.   The method for calculating waiting times is only available for 2013-14. No data are available for the latest quarter.   During 2013-14, 43.6% of initial contacts with early intervention in psychosis were within two weeks.

EU External Trade: USA

Mr Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of agreement on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on (a) service delivery and (b) costs in the NHS.

George Freeman: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not affect the way the United Kingdom Government runs the National Health Service. It has been made clear by negotiators from both the United States and the European Union that it is up to the UK alone to decide how the NHS is run and any assertion that TTIP will undermine the government’s control of the NHS is a red herring.   The TTIP could offer great benefits to British business and for British jobs. Greater consistency in existing and new regulatory requirements would make it easier for companies - especially Small and Medium Enterprises - to access markets and, for patients, potentially help to increase access to new medicines and medical devices.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of people in England referred for talking therapies for treatment of depression and anxiety started their treatment within (a) six and (b) 18 weeks in the last (i) quarter and (ii) year for which information is available.

Norman Lamb: Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020, published October 2014, articulates our ambition and the immediate actions we will take this year and next to achieve better access and waiting times in mental health services. It includes the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), commitment of treatment within six weeks for 75% of people with 95% of people being treated within 18 weeks.   The Health and Social Care Information Centre has provided the following information taken from the IAPT Dataset.   The percentage of referrals waiting less than six weeks and less than 18 weeks from referral and first treatment appointment in IAPT services, nationally, for 2013-14 and Quarter 1 of 2014-15 is as follows:   - During 2013-14 73.7% of people waited for six weeks or less and 93.2% waited for 18 weeks or less.   - During first quarter of 2014-15 - 76.1% of people waited for six weeks or less and 95.3% waited for 18 weeks or less.

Mental Health Services: Children

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Tier 4 child and adolescent mental health services beds there were in England in each of the last five years.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children and young people have accessed NHS child and adolescent mental health services in England in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: The majority of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) services are commissioned locally by a number of commissioners, including clinical commissioning groups, schools and local authorities. Data on attendance at CAMHS is held locally, not nationally and we are therefore not able to provide the information requested.   A new CAMHS minimum dataset is in development that will provide data on outcomes, length of stay for in-patient care, the source of referral, location of appointment and demographic information. Our current estimate is that data will be collected nationally from spring 2016.   CAMHS Tier 4 is a specialised in-patient service commissioned by NHS England since April 2013.   Overall, there has been an increase in the number of NHS-funded CAMHS Tier 4 beds. The number has increased from 844 in 1999 to 1,128 in 2006 and from 1,343 April 2013 to 1,386 in April 2014.   In the summer, NHS England committed to open 50 additional new general CAMHS and intensive care beds, as of December, 40 have opened. The remaining 10 are planned to open before the end of the financial year.   Within the total number of beds commissioned, there are 109 Low Secure beds and 100 Medium Secure beds.   We are unable to provide information on Tier 4 bed numbers that predate the setting-up of NHS England.

HIV Infection

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding has been agreed for the HIV prevention programme for how many years following the end of the current contract; on what basis the future of that programme was decided; what consultation process was undertaken; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The Department awarded the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) a contract totalling £6.7 million over three years for HIV prevention for those groups at increased risk. The contract will end in March 2015 and we are currently in discussions with THT about extending their contract for a further year for 2015-16. Spending decisions beyond 2015-16 will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.

Drugs: Licensing

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2014 to Question 216943, whether he plans to include issues related to off-patent drugs in the Innovative Medicines and MedTech Review.

George Freeman: The terms of reference of the Innovative Medicines and MedTech Review are still being developed. As set out in a Written Ministerial Statement on 20 November 2014, we expect this to focus on the most innovative medicines, devices and diagnostics which would include innovative use of existing medicine. Where appropriate this may cover off patent medicines, but final decisions on scope have not yet been taken. A link to the statement is provided:   http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/November%202014/20%20November/2-Health-InnovativeMedicines.pdf

Drugs: Licensing

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2014 to Question 216943, whether the statement that off-patent drugs are widely used in the NHS refers to the use of off-patent drugs outside of their licensed indications.

George Freeman: Yes.

Tobacco: Labelling

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what date he plans to lay regulatory proposals before the House to legislate for the standardised packaging of tobacco.

Jane Ellison: The Government has not yet made a final decision on whether to introduce standardised packaging of tobacco products. The Government continues to consider carefully all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products and a decision will be taken in due course. The United Kingdom notified the draft regulations under the EU Technical Standards Directive (Directive 98/34/EC). Pursuant to this Directive, the regulations cannot be made until after the notification ‘standstill’ period has ended on 2 March 2015. If the Government does decide to proceed with standardised packaging, a decision will then be made as to the appropriate Parliamentary timetable for the proposed regulations.

Health: Screening

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the median wait from test request to test result was for (a) abdominal ultrasound, (b) flexi-sigmoidoscopy, (c) colonoscopy and (d) brain MRI in (i) all tests requested and (ii) GP-requested tests in the last year for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison: Information on the median waits from test request to test result is only available for abdominal ultrasound and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. These data are shown in the table below.   Median waiting times (days) from referral to test and test to result for abdominal ultrasound and brain MRI scans, 2013-14  Median waitfor all referral sources (in days)Median waitfor GP requested tests (in days)Abdominal Ultrasound:  - Referral to test1524- Test to result23Brain MRI  - Referral to test2125- Test to result00   Source: Diagnostic Imaging Dataset – NHS England

Breast Cancer: Drugs

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of re-evaluating the Cancer Drugs Fund list on breast cancer patients.

George Freeman: I refer my hon. Friend to the Answer I gave the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) on 16 December 2014 to Question 217858

Ambulance Services: Greater London

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of London Ambulance Service front-line staff in (a) London and (b) Enfield; and how many front-line staff there were in (i) each of the last five years and (ii) 2014 to date.

Jane Ellison: The information is not available in the format requested. London ambulance service (LAS) does not operate on a borough by borough geographical basis and patients in Enfield are clinically assessed and attended by the ambulance crew that can reach them most quickly.   Numbers of frontline staff* in post in the Edmonton Complex (which includes Chase Farm, Ponders End, Edmonton, Tottenham and Bounds Green ambulance stations) in the most recent years for which figures are available are shown in the following table. Numbers of frontline staff in post across London in each of the most recent five years are also shown in the following table.   Edmonton (WTE)2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/15IN POSTn/an/a138145190BUDGETn/an/a132152189  Total LAS (WTE)2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/15IN POST2,9562,8932,7532,6522,647BUDGET3,0302,9722,8723,0123,056   *’frontline staff’ includes all paramedic and non-paramedic grades that work on frontline crews.   WTE= whole time equivalent

Christmas

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies plan to spend on Christmas (a) cards, (b) postage, (c) parties and (d) decorations and trees in 2014.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Department has identified there is no planned expenditure set aside to fund Christmas cards, postage and parties in 2014.   For decorations and trees, as separately identified from our Facilities Management suppliers (EMCOR), there are no plans to purchase Christmas decorations or trees from them.   Spend as identified from the Department’s non-departmental public bodies and its agencies is separately reported below:   NHS England confirm they hold no planned expenditure for any of these categories.   Monitor’s planned 2014 expenditure is contained in the table below:£Christmas cardsNilPostageNilParties£4,695.50Decorations and treesNilTotal£4,695.50   The Care Quality Commission confirm they hold no planned expenditure for any of these categories.   Public Health England confirm they hold no planned expenditure for any of these categories.   The Health and Social Care Information Centre’s planned 2014 expenditure is contained in the table below:£Christmas cards0Postage0Parties0Decorations and trees200 (+vat)Total£200 (+vat)   The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s planned 2014 expenditure is contained in the table below:  £Christmas cards£0Postage£0Parties£1,556Decorations and trees£0Total£1,556   The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency confirm they hold no planned expenditure for any of these categories.   The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority confirm they hold no planned expenditure for any of these categories.   The Human Tissue Authority’s planned 2014 expenditure is contained in the table below:£Christmas cards£0Postage£0Parties£1,155Decorations and trees£0Total£1,155

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which board members of each clinical commissioning group have a financial interest in healthcare providers.

Jane Ellison: This information is not collected centrally. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 sets out clear requirements of clinical commissioning groups to make arrangements in their constitutions for managing conflicts of interest, to ensure the transparency and integrity of their decision-making processes.

NHS: ICT

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the the Nursing and Midwifery Technology Fund (a) has already been allocated and (b) he plans to allocate in future years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The total funding issued to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in respect of the Nursing Technology Fund was £29 million in 2013-14. The Department has allocated an additional £35 million in 2014-15, available to NHS trusts, foundation trusts and local authorities on behalf of nursing-led services directly provided by the authority.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has spent on its website in the last three years.

George Freeman: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has advised that, between April 2011 and April 2014, it spent a total of £1.66 million on its website. The majority of this spend was on staff costs as the website is now supported and maintained internally.   NICE stopped printing its guidance in 2010-11, saving annual print and distribution costs of over £1 million. NICE has advised that it will continue to invest in improvements to its website as it is now the only outlet for the guidance and other products it produces.

Official Cars

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which Ministers in his Department have been allocated government cars; and what the shortest journey made by each such Minister in a government car was in each of the last two years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Secretary of State has an allocated government car which is sometimes shared by the Ministerial team. Details of the length of journeys have not been recorded.

Drugs: Licensing

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with clinicians about how to improve the uptake of clinically and cost-effective off-patent drugs outside their licensed indications.

George Freeman: We have had no detailed discussions but we are holding a roundtable stakeholder event in the new year where we will discuss a number of issues raised by the Off-Patent Drugs Bill. Individual prescribing decisions on the most appropriate treatments are a matter for clinicians, in discussion with their patients.

Prescription Drugs

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will develop a strategy and workplan with targets for increasing the use of off-label medicines.

George Freeman: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Crawley (Henry Smith) on 24 November 2014 to Question 214424

Breast Cancer: Drugs

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) associates network about how to remove barriers to implementing NICE familial breast cancer guidance on the use of tamoxifen and raloxifene for women at high risk of breast cancer.

George Freeman: The Department has asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to seek feedback from its associates network about progress made in implementing the 2013 updated clinical guideline on prevention of familial breast cancer and for information about any challenges they have encountered with implementation.

NHS: ICT

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the funding allocated to the Integrated Digital Care Technology Fund was disbursed in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15; and how much funding has been so allocated for 2015-16.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The first tranche of the Integrated Digital Care Technology Fund was called the Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards Technology Fund and £49 million was issued in 2013-14. A further £150 million has been allocated in 2014-15, of which £69 million has been issued to date.   Decisions about the next phase of the roll-out are under consideration and will be made once lessons have been learnt from the initial investment.

Hepatitis

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the press release of 28 July 2014, entitled World Hepatitis Day 2014: David Cameron's message, what initiatives his Department has implemented to reduce deaths due to hepatitis C infection.

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department plans to ensure a co-ordinated and effective approach to testing, treating and curing people with hepatitis C infection.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England and NHS England are developing an implementation framework for hepatitis C improvement, for the period 2015-2030. The plan will set high level aims for the public health system towards elimination of hepatitis C related liver disease as a public health concern, with specific, measurable, time bound objectives that feed into this overarching ambition. The Department will support Public Health England and NHS England in delivering the framework.

Hepatitis

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the potential costs of hepatitis C and the consequences of that disease to the NHS in the next 20 years.

Jane Ellison: Statistical modelling by Public Health England predicts that 15,840 individuals will be living with hepatitis C related cirrhosis or liver cancer in England in 2020, if left untreated. A published statistical estimate[1] suggests that over the next 30 years, the total healthcare costs of the infected population, assuming current levels of treatment, could be £4,680 million. That is why Public Health England and the National Health Service continue to promote the need for testing and treatment and are developing a long term strategy to address hepatitis C.  [1] Harris, R. J., Thomas, B., Griffiths, J., Costella, A., Chapman, R., Ramsay, M. E., Harris, H. E. (2014). Provision of care for patients with hepatitis C in England: future burden of HCV-related liver disease and impact of treatment under different scenarios. Journal of Hepatology, 61, 530–537.

Social Services: Older People

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the Government spent in (a) cash terms, (b) real terms and (c) per person in (i) cash and (ii) real terms on older people's social care in England in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: Local government spend on older person’s social care from 2009-10 is set out in the table below. The data has not been adjusted to include the National Health Service transfer to social care.   Net current expenditure on older people’s social care 2009-10 to 2013-14 Net current expenditure £ billion2009-102010-112011-122012-132013-14Cash prices7.467.426.856.756.682013-14 prices8.157.917.136.916.68  The Department cannot provide per person data on spend on older people’s social care. This is because individual level data is not collected in this way.

Social Services

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the Government spent in (a) cash terms, (b) real terms and (c) per person in (i) cash and (ii) real terms on social care in England in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: Local government net expenditure on adult social care in cash and real terms is set out in the table below. This has been adjusted to include the National Health Service transfer to social care.   Local government net expenditure on adult social care 2009-10 to 2013-14 Net current expenditure, £ billon2009-102010-112011-122012-132013-14Cash prices15.7416.0815.5515.3515.512013-14 prices17.2017.1216.1915.7015.51   The Department cannot provide per person data on spend on adult social care. This is because individual level data is not collected in this way.

Hospitals: Inspections

Mr David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2014 to Question 217647, if he will direct the Care Quality Commission to engage people with recent primary care experience in analytical processing under the heading of Intelligent Monitoring.

Norman Lamb: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. It is for the CQC rather than the Secretary of State to direct the CQC on the type of staff it should employ.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Higher Education: Admissions

Mr Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the effect on spending by his Department of abolition of the cap on higher education student numbers announced in the Autumn Statement 2013.

Mr Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the effect has been on public sector net debt of abolition of the cap on higher education student numbers announced in the Autumn Statement 2013.

Mr Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the cost to the public purse is of abolishing the cap on student numbers in (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16, (c) 2016-17 and (d) 2017-18.

Greg Clark: Details of estimates and costs are in the 2013 Autumn Statement document at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/263942/35062_Autumn_Statement_2013.pdf.

Higher Education: Admissions

Mr Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when his Department plans to publish updated student numbers as a result of the abolition of the cap on student numbers.

Mr Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his most recent estimate is of the increase in student numbers as a result of the decision to abolish the cap on student numbers; and what his updated estimates of student numbers is for (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Greg Clark: Confirmed student numbers for 2014/15 and future years are not yet available. The Higher Education Statistics Agency will publish data on Higher Education entrants and enrolments for 2014/15 in January 2016.

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Jo Swinson: In each of the last five financial years the following amounts have been spent by the Department (BIS and UK Trade and Investment) on first class train tickets and business class air travel. Figures for the total amount spent on taxis prior to 2012-13 cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost as these costs were included in individual travel and expense claims and not centrally collated.  Financial Year Rail 1st Class Air Business Class Taxis2009-2010£761,381.87£2,061,066.16£n/a2010-2011£179,884.52£1,177,664.09£n/a2011-2012£47,316.35£1,379,266.78£n/a2012-2013£18,974.65£1,282,766.02£92,3012013-2014£21,277.50£1,725,998.87£79,701Note: The use of first class rail travel is restricted for those with health issues and exceptional business need. In both cases prior approval is required in line with the Department’s travel policy. The use of business class flights is restricted to long haul and the figures above will include some costs relating to multi leg journeys made up of economy and business class elements; these cannot be separated without incurring disproportionate costs.

Minimum Wage

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to ensure that interns used for full-time work are paid at least the National Minimum Wage; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The term “intern” is not defined in any legislation: entitlement to the minimum wage depends on whether or not an individual is a worker. If an internship meets the legal definition of a worker, then they must be paid at least the minimum wage from the start.   Given this dependency on employment status, it is vital that employers and workers understand how this is determined. We continue to carry out targeted awareness raising initiatives with interns and HMRC have been working with employers to identify potential non-compliance.   Complaints from interns about non-payment of the minimum wage are prioritised by HMRC for investigation and HMRC will investigate every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. Any worker who believes that they are being paid below the minimum wage should call the helpline on 0800 917 2368.   Determining an individual’s employment status can be complicated. This is why the Business Secretary announced a review of employment status in October this year, to help ensure an employment status framework in the UK that meets the needs of everyone. This is an internal review and will present findings to ministers early next year.

Apprentices: Minimum Wage

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2014 to Question 217744, when his Department plans to write to level 2 and 3 apprenticeships in England informing them of their National Minimum Wage entitlement.

Nick Boles: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Business: Procurement

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy to prohibit companies from requiring a supplier company to make a payment in order to join or to remain on that company's list of suppliers.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Business: Procurement

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the implications of the practice of companies requiring a supplier company to make a payment in order to join or to remain on that company's list of suppliers on competition in the UK economy.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Scottish Power

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what meetings he has had with his ministerial colleagues on what steps to take in response to allegations that Scottish Power mis-sold cashback warranties in the 1990s.

Jo Swinson: No meetings have been held between myself, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills or other ministerial colleagues concerning this matter. The Secretary of State and I have both met with the Insolvency Service for briefing on their conclusions following review of material submitted by liquidators of two companies involved in administering the cash-back warranty scheme.

Scottish Power

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how he plans to keep the people who lost money following the failure of firms involved in Scottish Power's cash back warranty scheme updated on progress on the review of whether there will be a further investigation of that matter.

Jo Swinson: Investigations conducted under section 447 Companies Act 1985 are confidential, therefore it is not possible to announce whether or not such an investigation is taking place, or to report on the investigation outside of strict statutory gateways.   Whether or not an investigation under section 432 Companies Act 1985 is being undertaken is something which can be announced, and I am able to confirm that such an investigation will not be commenced at this stage.   Because the liquidation of the companies involved in the scheme is still under way, I do not propose to make a public announcement about the outcome of any review. However the creditors of those companies will receive reports from the liquidators if they are to be paid further dividends.

Company Investigations

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the Insolvency Service plans to conduct any inquiries under sections 432 or 447 of the Companies Act 1985 in the next six months.

Jo Swinson: For the financial year 2014-15 The Insolvency Service anticipates conducting between 140 and 160 investigations under section 447 Companies Act 1985. This is part of the normal function of the Insolvency Service so I can confirm that investigations will be conducted using this power in the next six months, though it is not possible to say how many.   The circumstances giving rise to an investigation using section 432 Companies Act 1985 are much less common, and I cannot at present state whether any such investigations will be commenced within the next six months.

Apprentices: Minimum Wage

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2014 to Question 217684, how many employers have been fined for non-payment of the apprentice National Minimum Wage at the rate introduced in March 2014.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2014 to Question 217684, how many of the 55 companies named for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage had underpaid apprentices; and how many of those 55 companies have been fined for non-payment of the apprentice National Minimum Wage.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2014 to Question 217684, what (a) funding and (b) staffing has been allocated to enforcement of the apprentice National Minimum Wage.

Jo Swinson: The Notice of Underpayment issued to an employer by HMRC following the identification of underpayments of the National Minimum Wage does not differentiate between underpayments to workers and apprentices. Non-compliance involving apprentices is not restricted to the Apprentice National Minimum Wage; some non-compliance will occur where an apprentice is entitled to the relevant age rate (where they are aged over 19 and have completed their first year).   It is therefore not possible to provide information on the number of employers who have faced a penalty for non-payment of the apprentice National Minimum Wage since March 2014, as HMRC do not hold this information. Nor is it possible to provide details of the number of naming cases involving underpayments to apprentices. We can confirm that every employer that has been named has faced a financial penalty. These penalties will have related to pay reference periods falling before and after 7 March 2014 and so will have been calculated at the previous and current rates.   In 2014/15, the National Minimum Wage enforcement budget was increased by £1.2m from £8m to £9.2m. There are currently 189 staff across HMRC contributing to enforcing NMW, including people who work in legal advice, debt management, technical support and criminal investigation, amongst others. This includes an additional 26 inspectors recently recruited following the in-year 14/15 funding increase. Within this overall resource, we do not specify an amount that should be allocated to enforcing the apprentice National Minimum Wage. HMRC are required to respond to every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition to this, complaints from apprentices are prioritised and fast-tracked.   Anyone who is concerned that they have been underpaid the National Minimum Wage should call the Pay and Work Rights Helpline for free and confidential advice on 0800 917 2368.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many British service personnel are serving in (a) Afghanistan and (b) other countries.

Mr Mark Francois: Holding answer received on 17 October 2014



Around 600 UK Armed Forces personnel are currently deployed on operations in Afghanistan and around a further 2,930 are deployed on operations in other countries. Information on the stationed location of all UK Regular Forces is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/376061/QLS_Quarterly_Location_Statistics__October_2014.pdf#page=4  Notes:‘UK Armed Forces personnel’ includes UK Regular Forces, Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service personnel and mobilised reservists.‘Other countries’ excludes deployments in the UK, Afghanistan and personnel on board Naval Vessels.Data for personnel deployed on operations only includes personnel who are deployed to an overseas location with an assigned country code. Personnel on overseas training exercises are excluded.

Libya

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Libyan armed forces personnel have been (a) arrested and (b) charged with any crimes during their time training at Camp Bassingbourn; and what crime was involved in each case.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Libyan soldiers previously in receipt of UK military training at Bassingbourn have been withdrawn; and how many such people are (a) facing criminal charges and (b) have received convictions (i) in the UK and (ii) abroad.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) criminal convictions and (b) criminal charges are held by members of the Libyan armed forces receiving training in the UK.

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department had with the Libyan government on criteria employed to select which Libyan soldiers took part in training at Basingbourne barracks in Cambridgeshire.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and (b) the Home Office on the behaviour of Libyan personnel on Bassingbourn base; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Mark Francois: Holding answer received on 20 November 2014



Prior to the start of General Purpose Force training on 11 June 2014, the UK had several discussions with the Libyan government about the selection and vetting of the Libyan trainees. These conversations also included representations from the United States and Italy. The Libyan government provided trainee candidates who had been through Libyan vetting and selection processes. These candidates were then subject to additional UK vetting in Libya, to ensure that those selected met Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ministry of Defence and Home Office requirements on security, immigration, medical, physical, literacy and numeracy criteria; in addition, the selected cohort comprised a suitable geographic representation of Libya. Home Office visa processes included checks against UK criminal databases and a visa declaration by all trainees which confirmed that they held no criminal convictions or charges in the UK or elsewhere. We are not aware that any of those candidates who passed UK screening had criminal convictions or faced charges at that time in the UK or elsewhere. During the course of training the Libyan General Purpose Force (GPF) we are aware of sixteen individuals being arrested. Of these five have been remanded in custody while facing the following criminal charges: Three counts of sexual assault, one count of theft of a pedal cycle and one count of exposure. Three counts of sexual assault and one count of theft of a pedal cycle. Two counts of sexual assault, one count of theft of a pedal cycle and one count of using threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour to cause harassment/alarm/distress against a police officer. One count of rape. One count of rape. All other trainees at Bassingbourn have been returned to Libya.  A team has been set up to produce for the Defence Secretary before Christmas an objective report into the GPF training. It is led by a MOD senior civil servant who was not involved in the original work, supported by a senior civil servant loaned from another Government Department to provide an additional element of independence and challenge.

Libya

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Libyan soldiers training in the UK have withdrawn from the training programme voluntarily; and how soon after withdrawing from the programme each such soldier returned to Libya.

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Libyan soldiers recently in training at Basingbourne barracks, Cambridgeshire were (a) asked by the Government to leave the training programme; and how soon after being asked to leave that programme those soldiers returned to Libya.

Mr Mark Francois: Holding answer received on 17 November 2014



One hundred Libyan personnel withdrew from training. Of these, fewer than ten were asked by the UK to leave. All personnel who ceased training early to return to Libya left the UK in accordance with timescales agreed with the Libyan Government.

Reserve Forces: Engineers

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2014 to Question 211796, how many engineers have been recruited into the (a) Army Reserves, (b) Royal Navy Reserves and (c) Royal Air Force Reserves in each year since 2010.

Mr Julian Brazier: Holding answer received on 24 November 2014



The table below sets out details of the Ministry of Defence’s intake of Service personnel into engineering trades, corps or branches in the UK Reserve Forces, by financial year. Numbers presented are likely to be underestimates as engineers can be recruited into non-engineering branches or may not be recorded as engineers on entry. Data quality issues mean that, for the Army, figures prior to 1 April 2012 are unavailable; for the Maritime Reserves and Royal Auxiliary Air Force data is unavailable prior to 1 October 2012.  2012-132013-142014-15 (6 months to 30 September)Maritime Reserven/a105Army Reserve (Royal Engineers)655470285Royal Auxiliary Air Forcen/a1015 Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. 2. Intake includes ex-Regulars (either seamless transfer or following a break in service), Reserve re-joiners (following a break in service) and new entrants. 3. Maritime Reserve figures comprise the Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Marine Reserve, including mobilised reservists, High Readiness Reserves, those serving on Full Time Reserve Service and Additional Duties Commitment. 4. Army figures refer to intake to Army Reserve (Group A) Royal Engineers and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), which includes Volunteer Reserves, Mobilised Army Reservists, High Readiness Reserves and Officers under training. Figures therefore exclude any Army Reserve Group B (University Officer Cadets) and Group C (Sponsored Reserves and Full Time Reserve Service). 5. Royal Auxiliary Air Force figures include mobilised reservists and High Readiness Reserves.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on television recruitment campaigns for (a) the Army, (b) the Royal Navy, (c) the Royal Air Force and (d) in total in the last 12 months.

Mr Julian Brazier: Holding answer received on 24 November 2014



The table below shows how much each of the three Services has spent on television recruitment campaigns for the current and last two financial years. Financial Year/Service 2012-13£ million2013-14 £ million2014-15£ millionRoyal Navy2.801.862.95*Army2.99**1.281.75(to 31 August 2014)Royal Air Force2.252.673.37   * Forecast** From 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013 The Department has not incurred any costs in respect of television recruitment for civilian staff.

RAF Akrotiri

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel work on night shifts at RAF Akrotiri; and what catering arrangements are in place for people working such shifts.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what catering arrangements are made for armed forces personnel at RAF Akrotiri; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Mark Francois: Holding answer received on 16 December 2014



As of 16 December 2014, the number of personnel on night shift at RAF Akrotiri was 238; 103 of these are deployed on Op SHADER. Op SHADER deployed personnel are provided with: a dinner meal in the early evening; a choice between a hot container meal or a cold packed meal during the night; and a breakfast meal on completion of duty. During the early stages of Op SHADER, a late supper was additionally provided. However, at the request of the Op SHADER personnel, this option was changed in favour of either cold packed meals or hot container meals for consumption at their place of work. Personnel deployed on OP SHADER receive their meals at Crown expense. Non Op SHADER personnel have the option of cold packed meals during the night shift but are required to order in advance and pay for them in accordance with the Pay as You Dine contract. The catering management at RAF Akrotiri for armed forces personnel is provided though the Cyprus Multi-Activity Contract (CMAC) awarded by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to Sodexo. At RAF Akrotiri, Sodexo offers three core meals per day and covers a period of 0600-1930 hrs daily. This period has been recently extended to assist with Op SHADER. The MOD mandates that the catering provision conforms with a number of standards, including stipulating the requirement for a balanced diet, an appropriate number of choices and calorific values. RAF Akrotiri has extensive retail catering outlets, including a Maxi Costcutter Store, clubs, cafes and leisure outlets, which are available to all personnel including single, married and operational personnel. Opening hours of individual outlets vary between 0600-2230 hrs from Monday to Sunday.

Nuclear Weapons

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what evaluation his Department has made of the requirements for radioactive remediation and toxic materials clean up at the (a) uranium mines abroad from which the UK obtained the uranium used in military nuclear programmes and (b) sites where British nuclear warheads were tested in (i) Australia, (ii) Christmas Island and (iii) Nevada.

Michael Fallon: Holding answer received on 17 December 2014



The Ministry of Defence has made no such evaluation of uranium mines or sites in Nevada.In 1993, following a report of the Australian Royal Commission on the conduct of nuclear tests in Australia, the UK Government made an ex gratia payment of £20 million to the Australian Government. This payment was part of a full and final settlement of the UK Government's liability for any claims resulting from the British test programme.The Ministry of Defence has made evaluations of residual contamination on Christmas Island: the last in 1998 concluded that any required remediation had been undertaken.

Air Force: Military Bases

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when 617 Squadron will move to Marine Corp Air Squadron Beaufort; how long that squadron will be stationed there; how many personnel will be based there; and what estimate he has made of the cost of that move.

Mr Julian Brazier: 617 Squadron is not due to move to Marine Corp Air Squadron (MCAS) Beaufort. 617 Squadron disbanded as a Tornado GR4 squadron on 1 April 2014 and is due to re-form as the UK's first operational Lightning II squadron, in 2016, from UK Lightning Force personnel who will already be based at MCAS Beaufort.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the (a) first and (b) last pilot will complete their training on the F-35B with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501; and how many pilots will be trained.

Mr Julian Brazier: The first UK pilot completed training with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501) in February 2013 and, on current plans, the final UK pilots to complete their training on VMFAT-501 will do so in May 2018. A total of 24 UK pilots, comprising Royal Navy and Royal Air Force personnel, will be trained on VMFAT-501.

Military Aircraft

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department's ISTAR optimisation study will report; and whether the report will be published.

Mr Julian Brazier: The Air ISTAR Optimisation Study is designed to inform a future Strategic Defence and Security Review and ensure that any decisions taken regarding the UK's future Air ISTAR requirements and solutions are based upon the best available evidence. The study is due to conclude in March 2015; however there are no plans for publication.

Territorial Waters

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what incursions into UK territorial waters by foreign vessels there have been since January 2011.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Territorial Waters

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to minimise the risk of a breach of UK territorial waters.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Surveillance

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his NATO counterparts about the UK's maritime surveillance capability gap.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff are employed in his Department's headquarter buildings.

Mr Julian Brazier: As of 1 October 2014, the number of Ministry of Defence (MOD) civilian staff located at MOD Head Office London, was around 1,680. This figure is based on MOD core and Trading Fund personnel and numbers are reported as Full Time Equivalents.In addition, around 740 UK Regular Forces personnel are stationed in MOD Head Office.

Ministers' Private Offices

Mr David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in ministerial offices in his Department were appointed from (a) the Civil Service and (b) other bodies (i) between May 2005 and May 2010 and (ii) since May 2010.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.

Michael Fallon: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Bahrain

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when negotiations with the government of Bahrain on the construction of a UK naval base in that country began.

Mr Mark Francois: Holding answer received on 16 December 2014



The UK has had a Naval Base in Bahrain since the 1950s. The base provides naval and logistics facilities that are used by British Forces and that support our basing and operations in the Gulf region. Negotiations to further enhance and improve these existing facilities with the Government of Bahrain commenced in September 2012.

Iraq

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he is taking to protect the Yazidi community in and around Mount Sinjar from ISIS; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Julian Brazier: The Ministry of Defence has not conducted any humanitarian aid drops in and around MountSinjar since the summer, although the coalition has done. UK and coalition airstrikes, in support of Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga, have continued to check and push back ISIL, helping to reduce the threat posed to the Yazidi community.The Department for International Development is leading the UK's humanitarian response. The UK Government is delivering £39.5 million of aid to Iraq. This includes: support to over 200,000 people affected by the recent crisis, delivering essential winter supplies to 14,000 vulnerable displaced families, providing cash and voucher assistance to help 16,000 families buy warm winter clothing and ensuring 4,500 families are sheltered from winter conditions.

Military Aircraft

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many aircraft of each type are in service in each branch of the armed forces; and where each such aircraft is based.

Mr Julian Brazier: The number of fixed wing and rotary aircraft in service with each branch of the Armed Forces, and where each aircraft fleet is permanently based is provided in the attached table.   



Aircraft Fleet
(Word Document, 73 KB)

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the Army's armoured fighting vehicles is available for urgent deployment.

Mr Julian Brazier: The Ministry of Defence's levels of readiness are based upon the Defence Strategic Direction and set out in the Defence Plan. This requires the Army to have a variety of forces at a series of graduated levels of readiness in order to be prepared for operations. There are sufficient armoured fighting vehicles available to support the deployment of these units. We do not routinely comment on specific levels of readiness for individual capabilities as to do so would compromise operational security, or would or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Community Relations

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2014 by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to the Urgent Question, Official Report, columns 245-6, on extremism, what assessment he has made of the nature and extent of the wider counter-extremist and integration work co-ordinated by his Department; what this co-ordination will entail; and what budget is available for this work.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many community integration projects or organisations are funded by his Department.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what community (a) integration projects and (b) organisations are currently funded by his Department.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what funds his Department has allocated to community integration or cohesion in each year since 2010-11.

Stephen Williams: Holding answer received on 15 July 2014



I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on integration made by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) today.

Community Relations

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support civic and voluntary organisations that promote integration and greater multi-ethnic understanding.

Stephen Williams: I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on integration made by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) today.

Departmental Responsibilities

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which (a) projects and (b) groups are funded through his Department's Community Rights, Integration and Big Society programme.

Stephen Williams: Holding answer received on 13 October 2014



I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on integration made by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) today.

Public Expenditure

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to Annex A of his Department's Explanatory Memorandum to the Main Estimate 2013-14, how much of the money allocated for Community Rights, Integration and Big Society was allocated to (a) community rights, (b) integration and (c) the Big Society in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

Stephen Williams: Holding answer received on 13 October 2014



As is the norm for departmental spending under this and previous Administrations, actual outturn estimates will vary from initial allocations, reflecting the activity of the individual programmes within the budget headings and the profile of how money is spent. The Explanatory Memorandum was prepared in February 2013, published in July 2013, and is a snapshot of the notional allocations at that point in time; in turn, it reported on changes from the 2012-13 Supplementary Estimate. Explanatory Memorandum 2013-14 Main Estimates: Budget Allocations   £ million2011-122012-132013-142014-15Integration10.715.010.84.1Big Society and Community Rights8.919.527.823.1 For the latest outturn estimates for integration, I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Communities and Lcoal Government (Eric Pickles) today. The figure for Big Society and Community rights are as follows: £ million2011-122012-132013-142014-15 8.912.318.923.7 We received unbudgeted income of £2 million in 2012-13 and £1.6 million in 2013-14 (a legacy of the New Deal for Communities); in turn, this has reduced the outturn figures for Big Society and Community Rights allocations, but not the actual spending (as the income reduces the request for funding for the Department from the public purse). The Community Rights programmes are part of our Big Society agenda. Some funding was re-classified after the 2011 Spending Review moving to the ‘Integration’ heading. These accounting categories are somewhat arbitrary – as many of our integration projects are about putting the Big Society principles in practice: empowering individuals, neighbourhoods and communities to solve problems and improve quality of life. I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt hon Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) today, which lists the integration projects we have funded to illustrate this point.

Radicalism

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to Annex B of his Department's Explanatory Memorandum to its main Estimate 2013-14, how the savings in the resource budget for Integration and Tackling Extremism in 2013-14 and 2014-15 were achieved.

Stephen Williams: Holding answer received on 16 October 2014



As is the norm for departmental spending under this and previous Administrations, actual outturn estimates will vary from initial allocations, reflecting the activity of the individual programmes within the budget headings and the profile of how money is spent.   The Explanatory Memorandum was prepared in February 2013, published in July 2013, and was a snapshot of the notional allocations at that point in time; in turn, it reported on changes from the 2012-13 Supplementary Estimate.   Explanatory Memorandum 2013-14 Main Estimates: Budget Allocations   £ million2011-122012-132013-142014-15Integration10.715.010.84.1   I also refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on integration made by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) today.

Radicalism

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much DEL Resource from his Department was allocated to integration and tackling extremism in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2014-15.

Stephen Williams: Holding answer received on 16 October 2014



I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on integration made by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) today. The figure for 2010-11 funding was £30.2 million.

Community Relations

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's Bringing people together in strong, united communities policy webpage, if he will list all the projects aimed at tackling extremism and intolerance.

Stephen Williams: Holding answer received on 30 October 2014



I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on integration made by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) today.

Young Offenders

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the contribution of Youth Hubs and charities to the reduction of young offending rates.

Stephen Williams: The Department for Communities and Local Government is not responsible for monitoring or assessment of levels of youth offending.

Public Sector: Mutual Societies

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities in England have allowed staff-led mutuals to run services; and if he will make a statement.

Kris Hopkins: This data is not held centrally.Information from the Community Rights Support Programme suggests that 30 groups of local authority employees have been helped to explore use of the Community Right to Challenge to help them mutualise a service and 10 local authorities have been provided with advice on the issue.The Cabinet Office has engaged with around 200 emerging and established public service mutuals across multiple sectors, ranging from social care and integrated health to libraries and youth services. Over 100 are live and trading, employing more than 35,000 people and delivering well over £1.5 billion of public services. In England today there are now over 100 live public services mutuals, employing more than 35,000 people and delivering well over £1.5 billion worth of services. The Local Government Association carries out research for the local government sector on workforce matters. The latest Local Government Association’s Workforce Survey for 2012/13 includes information collected on staff–led organisations and can be found at:http://www.local.gov.uk/research-pay-and-workforce/-/journal_content/56/10180/6033972/ARTICLE

Public Sector: Mutual Societies

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will assess the effectiveness of staff-led mutuals in providing value for money for local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Kris Hopkins: It is for locally elected council leaders to decide how best to deliver the services that their communities rely upon. If council leaders decide to deliver services using staff–led mutuals or other staff-led initiatives than they must ensure they clearly demonstrate that they offer good value for local taxpayers and provide the best outcomes for services users. The Government is encouraging the development of public service mutuals because of the benefits they bring to public sector staff, local commissioners and service users. By freeing employees to deliver and improve their services as they know best, mutuals enable innovation and because they feel more engaged, staff are likely to stay longer with the organisation and miss fewer days of work. Research shows that absenteeism and staff turnover fall 20% and 16% respectively after an organisation has spun out. Mutuals are proving successful at generating new business, expanding into more areas and winning additional contracts, acting as engines for small business growth in their local communities. Our latest data shows that mutuals have average projected revenue growth of 10% over the next year. The Community Right to Challenge complements the work to support formation of new staff-led mutuals in local government by providing a mechanism for local authority employees to set out their proposals for delivering services as a mutual or other service spin–outs. Information from the Programme suggests it has helped 30 groups of local authority employees to explore using the Community Right to Challenge to help them mutualise a service and has given advice to 10 local authorities.

Written Questions

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what assessment he has made of the reasons why his Department was the third worst performing department in 2013-14 for answering named day written questions very late.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what assessment he has made of the reasons why his Department was the third worst performing department in 2013-14 for answering named day written questions on time.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what assessment he has made of the reasons why his Department was the third worst performing department in 2013-14 for answering ordinary written questions on time.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what assessment he has made of the reasons why his Department was the second worst performing department in 2013-14 for answering ordinary written questions very late.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what steps he is taking to improve the performance of his Department in answering Written Parliamentary Questions on time.

Kris Hopkins: Holding answer received on 15 December 2014



We are committed to providing clear and accurate answers with, where relevant, appropriate information to allow the response to be seen in the right context for both the MP and others seeing the answer. We do not consider it right or helpful to provide answers until we able to do this.62% of named day answers were answered on the named day in 2013-14. I observe that this compares with the annual rate of 52% when the rt. hon. Member was Secretary of State under the last Administration (as stated in the answer of 11 January 2010, Official Report, Column 682W).We have recently introduced a new IT system for processing Parliamentary Questions to replace the dated and inflexible system that had been in use for more than 10 years. This supports fully electronic processing and significant additional facilities for monitoring and reporting on the progress in responding to questions.

Housing: Disability

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conclusions of the Local Government Ombudsman's report entitled No Place Like Home, on the numbers of disabled people on housing waiting lists.

Brandon Lewis: No Place Like Home is about the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families. The law is clear that bed and breakfast accommodation should be used to house homeless families only in an emergency, and then for no longer than six weeks. The Government is determined to tackle the unlawful and avoidable practice of placing families in bed and breakfast for more than 6 weeks. That’s why we made £2 million available in 2013-14 to support local authorities to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to the problems which drive the use of bed and breakfast accommodation. Those seven councils who received funding reduced their numbers by 96% by December 2013 and their numbers remain low. Homelessness figures for July to September 2014 show a 38% decrease in the numbers of families with children in bed and breakfast for longer than six weeks, when compared to the same quarter in 2013 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness). This shows that Government’s action on this issue is working. We are also helping other authorities by drawing on the lessons learned from the funding by investing £80,000 to identify good practice that will be shared with other local authorities. We would not expect the report to have an impact on the numbers of disabled people on housing waiting lists. The statutory reasonable preference categories ensure that people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability, are given appropriate priority on social housing waiting lists.

Private Rented Housing: Alarms

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2014 to Question 207598, when he will publish the response to the consultation on requirements for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the private rented sector.

Brandon Lewis: Holding answer received on 16 December 2014



I refer the rt. hon. Member to my answer of 16 December, Official Report, PQ 218368.

Council Tax

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which councils have signed up to his Department's offer of additional funding to freeze council tax in 2014-15.

Kris Hopkins: In total 251 authorities in England froze or reduced their band D council tax in 2014-15, which is 60% of those eligible. A list of authorities which met the criteria of the 2014-15 council tax freeze scheme and therefore received the additional funding is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/317658/140415_312335_Council_Tax_Freeze__Revenue__Grant_Determination_2014-15.pdf

Non-domestic Rates: Worcestershire

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of businesses in Worcester that have received (a) small business rate relief and (b) the High Street Discount on business rates.

Kris Hopkins: The Chancellor announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 business rates bills, bringing the total support from 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement polices in 2015-16 to £1.4 billion. Autumn Statement 2014 help includes: doubling small business rate relief for a further year. In England, this means an estimated 385,000 properties will pay no rates at all, while a further 190,000 properties will benefit from tapered relief.a 2% cap on the increase of the small business rates multiplier. This is a continuation of the 2% cap introduced in 2014-15 as part of Autumn Statement 2013 measures;increasing the temporary £1,000 discount for shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000 to £1,500 for 2015-16, benefitting an estimated 300,000 properties in England and;extending the existing transitional relief scheme for two years for properties with a rateable value up to and including £50,000.These policies are in addition to previous Autumn Statement measures that continue into 2015-16, including:a 50 per cent discount for 18 months to new occupants of vacant shops;allowing businesses to keep their small business rate relief for a year where they take on an additional property; andbusiness rates relief for empty new builds.Central Government also now funds 50% of any local discount granted.The attached table shows the number of properties in 2014-15 within the Worcester City Council boundary that have benefitted from business rates measures in the previous Autumn Statement, including those that have received small business rates relief and the high street discount on business rates.



Table 
(Word Document, 26.18 KB)

Non-domestic Rates: Barnet

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate the Department has made of the number of small firms and shops in (a) the London borough of Barnet and (b) Hendon constituency which will have a reduction in business rates in 2015-16.

Kris Hopkins: The Chancellor announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 business rates bills, bringing the total support from 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement polices in 2015-16 to £1.4 billion. Autumn Statement 2014 help includes: doubling small business rate relief for a further year. In England, this means an estimated 385,000 properties will pay no rates at all, while a further 190,000 properties will benefit from tapered relief.a 2% cap on the increase of the small business rates multiplier. This is a continuation of the 2% cap introduced in 2014-15 as part of Autumn Statement 2013 measures;increasing the temporary £1,000 discount for shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000 to £1,500 for 2015-16, benefitting an estimated 300,000 properties in England; andextending the existing transitional relief scheme for two years for properties with a rateable value up to and including £50,000. These policies are in addition to previous Autumn Statement measures that continue into 2015-16, including: a 50 per cent discount for 18 months to new occupants of vacant shops;allowing businesses to keep their small business rate relief for a year where they take on an additional property; andbusiness rates relief for empty new builds. Central Government also now funds 50% of any local discount granted. The Department does not collect data on a constituency basis, but Hendon constituency lies entirely within the boundary of the London Borough of Barnet. In addition to this, local authority level data is not yet available for the number of properties that will benefit from Autumn Statement 2014 measures in 2015-16. The attached table shows the number of properties in 2014-15 within the boundary of the London Borough of Barnet that benefit from business rates measures extended in this year’s Autumn Statement.



Table
(Word Document, 27.66 KB)

Non-domestic Rates: Worcestershire

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much was paid in business rates in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire in each of the last five years.

Kris Hopkins: Details of the amount of non-domestic rates that were collected in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire in each of the last 5 years are shown in the table below. The data are the amount that was collected in the year, irrespective of the year to which it relates before the deduction of any allowances for the cost of collection or losses in collection. The data for Worcestershire is made up from the data for Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, Redditch, Wychavon, Wyre Forest and Worcester.  Worcester£millionWorcestershire£million2009-1035.0163.82010-1135.7165.82011-1237.6176.02012-1339.2179.52013-1440.1182.3 Data were collected on auditor certified national non-domestic rates (NNDR3) outturn forms completed annually by all billing authorities in England. These figures will reflect changes to the overall size and valuation of hereditaments, new buildings and the change in the multiplier, as well as changes to different types of rate relief. These data are available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/national-non-domestic-rates-local-authority-level-data

Local Government Finance

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to recommendation (a) of the report of the National Audit Office entitled Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014, published in November 2014, if his Department will publish a real-terms series of change in individual local authority income since 2010-11.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to recommendation (c) of the report of the National Audit Office entitled Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014, published in November 2014, what steps he is taking to develop a clearer understanding of whether local authorities' funding is sufficient to support their core services.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraphs 3.5 to 3.11 of the report of the National Audit Office entitled Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014, published in November 2014, what steps he is taking to improve understanding of the financial sustainability of local authorities and the extent to which they may be at risk of financial failure.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraphs 3.13 to 3.20 of the report of the National Audit Office entitled Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014, published in November 2014, what steps he is taking to monitor the impact of funding decisions on local services in a co-ordinated way.

Kris Hopkins: The Government will publish a formal response to the Public Accounts Committee's consideration of the National Audit Office report; this will be presented to Parliament in the New Year.

Shared Ownership

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 2.42 of the Autumn Statement 2014, when he plans to launch the consultation on options for streamlining the process for selling on shared ownership properties.

Brandon Lewis: We will be seeking views on streamlining the process for selling on shared ownership properties early in 2015.

Domestic Waste

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average cost per home was of rubbish bin collections in each local authority in each of the last three years.

Kris Hopkins: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Scotland Office

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office spend on air, rail and taxi travel in the last five years is shown below: Year2009-10 (£)2010-11 (£)2011-12 (£)2012-13 (£)2013-14 (£)Air118,95673,376141,601171,4832131,538Rail39,12532,31430,49247,69457,487Taxi17,40714,94619,96720,96723,845The Scotland Office does not separately record information and expenditure on first or business class travel. It is Scotland Office policy not to use first or business class travel for officials. All ministerial travel is undertaken by the most efficient and cost effective way, in accordance with the Ministerial Code, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

Smith Commission

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what consultation he plans on the draft legislation arising from the recommendations of the Smith Commission.

David Mundell: The Smith Commission process was thorough and extensive, consisting of cross-party talks with all five main political parties in Scotland and wide ranging engagement with Scottish civic institutions and members of the public.The UK Government’s role now is to turn the agreement reached between the parties into draft clauses by 25 January 2015.To support the draft legislation the Secretary of State for Scotland has invited Scottish stakeholders representing a wide range of different sectors to form a Stakeholder Group. This group will help inform the Government’s public and stakeholder engagement following the publication of the draft clauses.

Women and Equalities

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many staff are employed in the Government Equalities Office headquarter buildings.

Jo Swinson: On the 15th December the total number of Government Equalities Office staff employed was 52. All these were employed in the department's headquarters.

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how much the Government Equalities Office has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Jo Swinson: With the exception of spending on taxis, and for travel before financial year 2013/14, the systems used by the Government Equalities Office did not routinely classify travel information in this way and producing it would incur disproportionate cost.Expenditure on taxis fares is available for the past 3 years: Prior years were not held in the format requested - FY Expenditure09/10 information not held10/11 information not held11/12 £1,17212/13 £2,29713/14 £452The Government Equalities Office has only been able to recognise the class of travel from 01 April 2013 when it joined DCMS under a Machinery of Government transfer. Prior to this date, information was held by other parent Departments of GEO and extracting this data could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Records show that GEO incurred expenditure for one business class flight during 2013/14 at a cost of £2,218.59. This relates to an outward trip as the Minister was due to attend a meeting immediately upon landing. The minister returned economy class.No expenditure is recorded for First Class train tickets.

Castes: Discrimination

Richard Fuller: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the document entitled, Caste Legislation introduction programme and timetable, published in July 2013, for what reasons the draft order has not yet been published for consultation.

Nick Boles: The Government timetable published in July 2013 made it clear that the draft order would be preceded by a public consultation on the prospective caste legislation. We are currently considering the form and timing of the public consultation in the light of ongoing caste discrimination legislation in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. We will await the outcome of the judgment before deciding in what form to issue the public consultation.

Department for Transport

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Claire Perry: The attached tables show the spend, as well as explanatory notes, by the Department and its agencies on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years. Note that by way of context, the total amount spent by the central Department on travel across all modes and classes in 2013/14 was £918,000, which compares to £4.075million in 2009/10.  



218483 - table on travel expenditure
(PDF Document, 135.44 KB)

Road Traffic

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the amount of working time lost because of traffic jams in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Estimates of the amount of working time lost because of traffic jams are not held centrally. However, the Department does produce statistics on congestion on locally managed roads by monitoring average speeds on these roads during the weekday morning peak, defined as 7am to 10am. Average speeds are measured in both directions of travel. The Department also produces statistics on the reliability of journeys on the strategic road network by monitoring the percentage of journeys that are ‘on time’. These statistics and supporting information can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-congestion-and-reliability-statistics In addition, estimates of modelled total lost time, defined as the additional time spent travelling compared to that in free flow conditions (but not necessarily held up in traffic jams), are available through the Department’s National Transport Model (NTM). The NTM only models certain years and is mostly used for forecasting future years. However, the model forecasted that in 2010 a total of 41Million Working Days were lost in England on all roads. Although national traffic levels have been broadly static for the last ten years, this masks increasing traffic on motorways which reached a record high of 64.5 billion miles in the year ending September 2014. Given the latest trends and available evidence, it is reasonable to plan for growing levels of traffic, particularly on the Strategic Road Network. Therefore, we have recently announced the biggest road investment in decades, with plans to triple levels of spending by the end of the decade and add over 1,300 new lane miles through schemes being delivered over the next parliament on motorways and trunk roads, tackling congestion and fixing some of the most notorious and longstanding problem areas on the network.

National Air Traffic Services

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with representatives of (a) National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and (b) the Civil Aviation Authority about the resources needed by NATS for a resilient and effective national air traffic control system since 2012.

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with representatives of (a) National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and (b) the Civil Aviation Authority about the effectiveness of IT systems used by NATS following the operational difficulties experienced on 7 December 2013.

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he and officials in his Department have had with  National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and the Civil Aviation Authority on the upgrade programme to enhance air traffic capacity and the implications for continuing reliability of NATS operations day-to-day while it is implemented in the last 12 months.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Both the Secretary of State and I have met NATS and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on a number of occasions in the past year. During some of these meetings, we have emphasised the vital importance of NATS in providing an effective and reliable service to the aviation industry. We have also stressed the need for NATS to improve the reliability of its systems. We were briefed by NATS on the telecoms failure in December 2013 at Swanwick, and what it is doing to implement the lessons learned. The Secretary of State has also been briefed by the CEOs of NATS and CAA about the technical failure at NATS of 12 December 2014. Ministers and officials regularly discuss the implementation of the Future Airspace Strategy with the CAA and NATS. This Strategy is the core programme for improving the efficiency of the UK airspace network. Officials from the Department have attended a wide range of meetings with the CAA and NATS in the last year but none of these meetings have been specifically about NATS’s IT systems. NATS typically invests £140m per annum on capital investment in operational IT systems.

Written Questions

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems his Department has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.

Claire Perry: The Department for Transport has not made any assessment of the savings made from the Q&A system. One of the benefits of the new system is the possibility for the reporting of the timeliness of answers to Parliamentary Questions to be delivered with greater consistency and accuracy across all answering bodies. It will be for the Procedure Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the new system in improving performance when it assesses the evidence following the end of the session.

Road Traffic: Shipley

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2014 to Question 217665, if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of the traffic counts in Shipley constituency.

Mr Robert Goodwill: An electronic copy of the count data for the years from 2010 to 2013 has been placed in the Library. At this time, the data for 2014 has not yet been processed and validated.

Walking

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding was allocated to projects related to increasing the number of journeys on foot (a) between 2005 and 2010 and (b) between 2010 and 2014.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department supported the following walking initiatives during financial years 2005/06 and 2009/2010: £2.5m for the Active School Travel programme between 2009/10 and 2010/11, £5m from Department of Health for cycling and walking as part of an obesity initiative in 2009/10, and £700k for the Schools ‘Finding New Solutions’ programme in 2010/11. Between 2010 and 2014, the primary source of funding for walking initiatives has been the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. The Fund is a £600m grant programme for local authorities that currently supports a range of sustainable transport projects across England. While this funding can be used for a range of transport interventions, many projects support walking either directly or as a secondary benefit (such as cycleways that can also be used by pedestrians). Due to the varied nature of the individual projects and the range of transport modes benefitting, it is not possible to place a precise figure on the amount of Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant being spent directly on walking. However, the latest annual report for this programme suggests that around 20% of the funding in 2012/13 was spent on projects that directly benefitted walkers. We can therefore assume that between financial years 2010/11 and 2014/15, approximately £120m will be spent on schemes that directly benefit walkers. This is a conservative estimate that does not consider projects where pedestrians are the secondary beneficiaries of a scheme, or projects that are 100% focussed on walking (such as Durham County Council’s ‘Walk to Schools outreach’ programme, which is receiving £4.8m in funding). In addition to this, all cities in receipt of the Department’s Cycling Ambition grant programme needed to demonstrate how their proposed designs would benefit walkers as well as cyclists. To support this, the Department worked with the Department of Health to make £1.2m in funding available to ensure walking is considered alongside the wider Cycling Ambition Grant programme. This funding has been shared between Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and Norwich. Local authorities are also welcome to participate in the Department’s School Award Scheme, operated by Modeshift. This scheme promotes walking and cycling to schools and is benefitting from £840,000 between 2014 and 2016.

Bus Services: Concessions

Mr Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme has been in each of the last five years.

Mr John Hayes: Data is not collected on the cost of reimbursement and administration for the statutory concession in isolation, so it is not possible to provide total expenditure figures for only the England National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS). However, Local Authorities are the Travel Concession Authorities (TCAs) who reimburse bus operators so that they are no better and no worse off as a consequence of carrying concessionary permit holders for free. The table below summarises reimbursement and associated costs for the past five years, as reported by TCAs. £millionMethodology2009/102010/112011/122012/132013/14A. Bus operator reimbursment(Statutory and discretionary schemes forolder and disabled people)Not available0.8010.8960.9070.933B. Expediture on concessionary travel(Reimbursement and admin for allmodes, schemes and users)1.0561.0991.1091.1261.165  (A) Statistics table BUS0830:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/356416/bus0830.xls  (B) Statistics table BUS0811:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/387141/bus0811.xls

Walking

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has budgeted for initiatives to increase the number of journeys made on foot in each of the next five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Over the next five years, funding for transport infrastructure that benefits walkers will be provided via the Local Growth Fund. Local authorities can work with their Local Enterprise Partnerships to identify which transport schemes will most benefit their local communities, and it is expected that walking schemes will be included in these strategic plans. In addition to this, to support the ongoing promotion of sustainable transport, including walking, the Department for Transport has confirmed £64.5m in revenue funding for 2015/16. This funding has been awarded to 44 schemes, one of which (led by Durham County Council) is 100% focussed on walking. £114m has also been made available for the continuation of the Cycling Ambition Grant programme; all cities bidding for this funding needed to demonstrate how their proposed designs would benefit walkers as well as cyclists. Local authorities are also welcome to participate in the Department’s School Award Scheme, operated by Modeshift. This scheme promotes walking and cycling to schools and is benefitting from £840,000 between 2014 and 2016.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many complaints his Department has received about the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in each of the last five years.

Claire Perry: The number of complaints about the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in the last five years is shown in the table below: Financial YearTotal number of complaints received2014-15 (up to 15 December)8,5622013-1410,1452012-138,6332011-127,8572010-118,2902009-109,199 In the last five full financial years, the number of complaints received represent on average 0.006% of the total number of transactions processed each year. The DVLA has processed an average of 138,137,342 transactions each year.

Walking

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has allocated to Local Sustainable Transport Fund projects relating to journeys made on foot between 2012 and 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Local Sustainable Transport Fund is a £600m grant programme for local authorities that currently supports a range of sustainable transport projects across England. While this funding can be used for a range of transport interventions, many projects support walking either directly or as a secondary benefit (such as cycleways that can also be used by pedestrians). Due to the varied nature of the individual projects and the range of transport modes benefitting, it is not possible to place a precise figure on the amount of Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant being spent directly on walking. However, the latest annual report for this programme suggests that around 20% of the funding in 2012/13 was spent on projects that directly benefitted walkers. We can therefore assume that between financial years 2011/12 and 2015/16 (which covers the entire span of the programme), approximately £120m will be spent on schemes that directly benefit walkers. This is a conservative estimate that does not consider projects where pedestrians are the secondary beneficiaries of a scheme, or projects that are 100% focussed on walking (such as Durham County Council’s ‘Walk to Schools outreach’ programme, which is receiving £4.8m in funding). The current Local Sustainable Transport Fund will end in March 2015. For 2015/16, the Department has provided £64.5m in revenue funding to support the ongoing promotion of sustainable transport, including walking. This funding has been awarded to 44 projects, one of which (led by Durham County Council) is 100% focussed on walking. Applying the same 20% logic indicated above, we can assume that approximately £13m of this funding will go on schemes that will directly benefit walkers.

Walking

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on each initiative to promote journeys made on foot; and how much funding was provided by (a) the Government, (b) local authorities and (c) other sources in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The primary source of funding for walking initiatives in the past five years has been the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. The Fund is a £600m grant programme for local authorities that currently supports a range of sustainable transport projects across England. While this funding can be used for a range of transport interventions, many projects support walking either directly or as a secondary benefit (such as cycleways that can also be used by pedestrians). Due to the varied nature of the individual projects and the range of transport modes benefitting, it is not possible to place a precise figure on the amount of Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant being spent directly on walking. However, the latest annual report for this programme suggests that around 20% of the funding in 2012/13 was spent on projects that directly benefitted walkers. We can therefore assume that over the five years of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, approximately £120m will be spent on schemes that directly benefit walkers. This is a conservative estimate that does not consider projects where pedestrians are the secondary beneficiaries of a scheme, or projects that are 100% focussed on walking (such as Durham County Council’s ‘Walk to Schools outreach’ programme, which is receiving £4.8m in funding). In addition to this, all cities in receipt of the Department’s Cycling Ambition grant programme needed to demonstrate how their proposed designs would benefit walkers as well as cyclists. To support this, the Department worked with the Department of Health to make £1.2m in funding available to ensure walking is considered alongside the wider Cycling Ambition Grant programme. This funding has been shared between Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and Norwich. Local authorities are also welcome to participate in the Department’s School Award Scheme, operated by Modeshift. This scheme promotes walking and cycling to schools and is benefitting from £840,000 between 2014 and 2016. All funding is routed via local authorities, and it is their responsibility to identify any local contributions needed to deliver schemes in their area. The Department therefore does not hold information on what additional funding is available via local authorities or other sources.

Walking

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the sources of funding available are for promoting journeys made on foot from (a) the Government, (b) local authorities and (c) other sources in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The primary source of funding for walking initiatives in the past five years has been the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. The Fund is a £600m grant programme for local authorities that currently supports a range of sustainable transport projects across England. While this funding can be used for a range of transport interventions, many projects support walking either directly or as a secondary benefit (such as cycleways that can also be used by pedestrians). Due to the varied nature of the individual projects and the range of transport modes benefitting, it is not possible to place a precise figure on the amount of Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant being spent directly on walking. However, the latest annual report for this programme suggests that around 20% of the funding in 2012/13 was spent on projects that directly benefitted walkers. We can therefore assume that over the five years of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, approximately £120m will be spent on schemes that directly benefit walkers. This is a conservative estimate that does not consider projects where pedestrians are the secondary beneficiaries of a scheme, or projects that are 100% focussed on walking (such as Durham County Council’s ‘Walk to Schools outreach’ programme, which is receiving £4.8m in funding). In addition to this, all cities in receipt of the Department’s Cycling Ambition grant programme needed to demonstrate how their proposed designs would benefit walkers as well as cyclists. To support this, the Department worked with the Department of Health to make £1.2m in funding available to ensure walking is considered alongside the wider Cycling Ambition Grant programme. This funding has been shared between Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and Norwich. Local authorities are also welcome to participate in the Department’s School Award Scheme, operated by Modeshift. This scheme promotes walking and cycling to schools and is benefitting from £840,000 between 2014 and 2016. All funding is routed via local authorities, and it is their responsibility to identify any local contributions needed to deliver schemes in their area. The Department therefore does not hold information on what additional funding is available via local authorities or other sources.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Middle East

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the presence of operational links between Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Islamic State.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We do not believe that there are operational links between al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). AQAP has been a vocal critic of ISIL’s rise. It recently issued a public statement condemning ISIL’s ‘Caliphate’ in Syria and Iraq, as well as criticising its use of brutal tactics. Although the civil war in Syria has attracted some Yemeni foreign fighters, this is not an indication of operational links between the two groups.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Prime Minister of Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Comonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has had no recent discussions with the Prime Minister of Yemen. The Foreign Secretary does however take a personal interest in Yemen and wrote to Prime Minister Bahah in November to express UK support.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of the presence of Islamic State or affiliated groups in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We are aware of reports suggesting the presence of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-affiliated groups in Yemen. We do not believe that this is indicative of an organised, structured or cohesive ISIL presence in Yemen. Also, it does not indicate operational linkages between al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIL. AQAP has been a vocal critic of ISIL’s rise. It recently issued a public statement condemning ISIL’s ‘Caliphate’ in Syria and Iraq, as well as criticising its use of brutal tactics. The civil war in Syria has attracted some Yemeni foreign fighters who may subsequently return to the region. We do not believe that this is indicative of ISIL presence in Yemen.

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff are employed in his Department's headquarter buildings.

Mr David Lidington: I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 11th November 2014 to PQ 213758.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to guarantee the safety of HM embassy staff in Yemen.

Mr David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a longstanding policy of not disclosing details of our security arrangements, policies, or incidents so as not to give a potential advantage to would-be attackers. We do however take security seriously, closely monitor the threats to our mission in Yemen and manage the risks through a range of mitigation measures.

Nuclear Weapons

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has commissioned research to determine what the UK's obligations in international law are in the event of economic or environmental damage being caused to other countries by radioactive fallout or blast arising from a British nuclear weapon being (a) accidentally detonated or (b) deliberately targeted and the effects spread to a third or more of the country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We have not commissioned any research. The issues are long-standing, and the Government has not seen the need to commission fresh research.

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.

Mr David Lidington: Before 2012/13 fraud data was published within the HM Treasury Fraud Report or estimated in the National Fraud Authority Annual Fraud Indicators. From 2012/13 figures on fraud and financial error have been provided to the Cabinet Office as part of the Quarterly Data Summary returns, for Central Departments, and all Arms Length Bodies who receive over £100m public funding per annum.The reported cost of fraud and error for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is set out in the table below:  DepartmentAgencyNDPB FCOFCO ServicesWilton ParkBritish CouncilGreat Britain China CentreWestminster Foundation for DemocracyMarshall Aid Commemoration Commission2013/2014£1,405£12£0£163£0£0£02012/2013£1,115£0£0£168£0£0£02011/2012£944£15£0£21£0£0£02010/2011£3,423£202£0£17£0£0£02009/2010£11,596£22£0£33£0£0£2  To note, there has been a supplier mandate fraud at the FCO this year amounting to £980k. This has been reported to Parliament and the National Audit Office.

Brazil

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government plans to respond to the request of the Brazilian Truth Commission for access to classified documents.

Mr Hugo Swire: The Brazilian National Truth Commission requested information from the Government through the British Embassy Brasilia on 9th April 2014. The Embassy responded via a note verbale to the Ministry of Foreign affairs on 12th May 2014 referring the Commission to the National Archives and offering further assistance, if required. We have no record of any other request for information, but are aware that the Commission’s report refers to a request for access to classified information which received no reply; we are investigating this.

Azerbaijan

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) human rights record of the government of Azerbaijan and (b) compatibility of that record with (i) membership of the EU and (ii) the European Convention of Human Rights.

Mr David Lidington: The UK is concerned about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and regularly raises these concerns with the government of Azerbaijan. As a member of the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, and we regularly encourage Azerbaijan to implement its Council of Europe commitments. During Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe between May and November this year, the UK raised concerns about the deterioration of human rights. Azerbaijan has not expressed an interest in becoming a member of the EU. Nevertheless, human rights is a priority area for EU/Azerbaijan cooperation under the 2006 European Neighbourhood Action Plan.

Bahrain

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what funding his Department provides for the promotion of human rights in Bahrain.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will have provided in the region of £1.5 million worth of support to Bahrain's reform programme this financial year. Our reform assistance is focused on strengthening human rights and the rule of law, including torture prevention and capacity building of the Ombudsman's Office for the Ministry of Interior. The Ombudsman's Office has responsibility for investigating allegations of detainee mistreatment.

Bahrain

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to list Bahrain as a country of concern in his Department's next Human Rights and Democracy Report.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Bahrain is a country case study in the 2013 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy. As such, we monitor the human rights situation in Bahrain and issue a biannual update. We will review all countries with human rights concerns in our preparation for the 2014 Annual Report, which will be published in early 2015. We continue to assist the Bahrain government with its reforms including on human rights and the rule of law.

Bahrain

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which human rights concerns he discussed with the Undersecretary at the Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs during his visit to London in December 2014.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I co-chaired the UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting on 4 December with the Undersecretary of the Bahraini Ministry of the Interior, H.E Abdullah Abdulatif Abdulla. We discussed progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry Report, and UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review. We agreed that the UK would continue to provide assistance to Bahrain’s reform programme, with a continuing focus on strengthening human rights and the rule of law. We also discussed the death of Hasan al-Shaikh, an inmate at the Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre, and the importance of carrying out a thorough and transparent investigation. I will continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to advance the democratisation and human rights agenda.

Bahrain

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of changes in the human rights situation in Bahrain in the last six months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We are supportive of the reforms underway in Bahrain and the steps taken by the Bahraini government to implement the recommendations set out in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry and UN Universal Periodic Review. Notable steps in the past six months have been: The first annual report by the Ministry of the Interior’s Ombudsman’s Office, released in May, which detailed the cases it has dealt with since July 2013; The first report of the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission in August, following its inspection visit to Dry Dock Detention Facility; and the report from the National Institute of Human Rights in September which identified a number of perceived shortcomings and made a series of recommendations to the Government of Bahrain.I am pleased that the EU chose to award the Chaillot Prize to the Ministry of the Interior’s Ombudsman’s office and the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR) in December for work to improve human rights in Bahrain. I will continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to ensure that the reform programme continues and the recommendations made in the reports are implemented fully.

Mauritania

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on the detention of Mr Biram Dah Abeid in Rosso, Mauritania on 11 November 2014.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We have received reports of the recent arrest of Mr Biram Abeid and other anti-slavery activists from local media, from Mr Abeid’s adviser and from NGOs active in Mauritania. We understand that an anti-slavery protest took place without permission and was broken up by police. Mr Abeid – though not originally part of the protest – joined in and was arrested. We are following this case closely.We will continue to engage with Mauritania on human rights issues and work closely with our international partners represented in Nouakchott including diplomatic institutions, the United Nations, European Union and African Union.

Department for International Development

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff are employed in her Department's headquarter buildings.

Mr Desmond Swayne: DFID employs 807 staff in the London Headquarters and 581 staff in the East Kilbride Headquarters.

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) her Department and (ii) its non-departmental public body in each of the last five years.

Justine Greening: Before 2012/13 fraud data was published within the HM Treasury Fraud Report or estimated in the National Fraud Authority Annual Fraud Indicators. From 2012/13 figures on fraud and financial error have been provided to the Cabinet Office as part of the Quarterly Data Summary returns, for Central Departments, and all Arms-Length Bodies who receive over £100m public funding per annum.

Middle East

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to assist Yazidi women in Iraq and Syria who have been kidnapped by ISIS.

Justine Greening: The current security situation and the deliberate blocking of aid by ISIL have made it extremely difficult for us or our partners to access ISIL controlled areas. We condemn the brutal human rights abuses perpetrated by ISIL, including reports of the trafficking and kidnapping of Yezidi women. The UK government is committed, as part of an international coalition, to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL.   UK humanitarian aid has been helping many victims who have managed to escape ISIL’s atrocities, including through the protection of vulnerable groups and through meeting the specific needs of displaced women and girls. In Dahuk in Northern Iraq, where many Yezidi women have fled to, our partners are providing psychosocial and community outreach support for survivors of sexual and gender based violence.

Africa

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department's officials have had with the governments of African states receiving aid from the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition on policy reforms relating to seeds and plants variety protections; and if she will publish correspondence and transcripts of meetings on that issue between her Department and (a) the governments of African states receiving aid from the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, (b) the US government, (c) representatives of agricultural companies and (d) representatives of seed companies.

Mr Desmond Swayne: In the context of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, DFID officials have had no discussions or correspondence with African states, the US Government or representatives of agricultural companies or seed companies, on policy reforms relating to seeds and plant variety protection.

Charities

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2014 to Question 216932, whether any other departments contributed to the costs of holding the DfID Direct Roadshows.

Mr Desmond Swayne: No other DFID or HMG departments contributed to the cost of the DFID Direct Roadshows.

Charities

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2014 to Question 216932, what venues were used for the DfID Direct Roadshows; and what the market value is of the cost of hiring each such venue for an event.

Mr Desmond Swayne: The DFID Direct Roadshows were held in the following venues: • Temple of Peace, Welsh Centre for International Affairs • The Paintworks, Bristol • University Place, The University of Manchester The Roadshow events incurred no costs to the department.

Charities

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2014 to Question 216932, what publicity material was produced for the DfID Direct Roadshows.

Mr Desmond Swayne: A one page hand-out providing the details of three funding opportunities for small and medium sized civil society organisations was printed within the department by officials.

Philippines

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what projects the Strengthening Humanitarian Preparedness in High Risk Contexts programme has established in the Philippines; and what the (a) outputs and (b) outcomes of those projects has been to date.

Mr Desmond Swayne: The programme has provided the following support to WFP and UNICEF:   · WFP - £130,000 of emergency food supplies able to support 2.4 million people for a two-week period, responding to GoP requests for food, non-food and logistics equipment in various affected areas; · UNICEF – £320,000 of emergency supplies able to support 6,000 households in Manila, 2,000 in Tacloban and 4,000 in Mindanao; · 80% of UNICEF country staff trained in emergency response.   DFID will measure and assess outputs and outcomes in collaboration with WFP and UNICEF.

Philippines

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the funding for the Strengthening Humanitarian Preparedness in High Risk Contexts programme was allocated to the Philippines.

Mr Desmond Swayne: £450,000 out of £20m - 2.25% - has been committed to date. Decisions on additional funding will be made in early 2015.   DFID’s total funding to the Philippines on humanitarian response, recovery and preparedness is currently £92.3 million.

Department for Education

Children's Centres

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which (a) voluntary sector providers, (b) community organisations and (c) private sector organisations run children's centres; and which such centres each such organisation runs.

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, (a) how many and (b) which children's centres in each local authority area are run by (i) local authorities, (ii) schools, (iii) voluntary sector providers, (iv) community organisations (v) private sector organisations and (vi) other organisations.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Holding answer received on 15 December 2014



Local authorities are responsible for maintaining records of their main children’s centres (and any additional sites that are open to children and families that are providing children's centre services as part of a network) on the Department for Education’s children’s centre database.Information from the database about the governance of main children’s centres, at 30 November 2014, was listed as follows:GovernanceNumber%Local Authority (LA)197470%Private, Voluntary or Independent provider (PVI)66524%Other Community Group1054%Health713%NULL10%Total2816100% Further details about governance and the list of children’s centre names by each governance type (giving the type and/or name of the organisation) have been provided in the attached Excel file. 



Children's centres by governance type
(Excel SpreadSheet, 428 KB)

Education: Greater London

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children in each London borough continued schooling to (a) A Level and (b) higher education since 2010.

Mr David Laws: Destination Measures show the destinations of young people the year after they left secondary schooling (key stage 4) and the year after the young person took A level or equivalent qualifications (key stage 5). They show the percentage of pupils continuing their education in school, further education or sixth form college, in specialist provision or in a higher education institution.   The measures are published at local authority level and are available for destinations of young people in 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12, published online at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations   Destinations in 2012/13 will be published in January 2015.

Schools: Armed Forces

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total additional premium funding paid to maintained schools to help pupils from families serving in the armed forces will be in 2014-15.

Mr David Laws: All pupils classed as service children under the school census in England attract the Service Pupil Premium funding and this is paid directly to state-funded schools. For financial year 2014 to 2015, the final allocation will be £19.3 million. This figure is based on data collected in the January 2014 school census.

English Baccalaureate

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of pupils were entered for GCSEs in all subjects comprising the English Baccalaureat in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2013-14.

Mr David Laws: The percentage of pupils entered for all subject areas of the English Baccalaureate was 22% in 2009/10 and 36.1%[1] in 2013/14. Information on the percentage of pupils entered for the components of the English Baccalaureate for 2009/10 and 2013/14 is published online in table 1b of the 2013/14 GCSE statistical first release at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2013-to-2014  [1] The 2014 performance measures are published on the basis of only including qualifications which were identified as part of the Wolf review and also applying the rules regarding the changes in early entry policy, this is different to the methodology used in earlier years. Comparisons between 2013/14 and earlier years should not be made before understanding the nature and the rationale of these changes as outlined in sections 2 and 3 of the statistical first release above.

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) her Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.

Mr Nick Gibb: The latest audited fraud and error figures available are for 2012/13. Reported fraud and error across central government was £70 million. This figure does not include all arm’s length bodies. The Department for Education reported £0.62 million in 2012-13 and £0.52 million in 2013-14 of fraud and error. In 2011 this Government established the Fraud, Error and Debt Taskforce to develop and coordinate action across government. It has achieved significant improvements, including the appointment at Departmental board level of an accountable person with responsibility for identifying and reducing fraud and error losses in their department.

Free Schools

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many 16 to 19 free schools have opened in 2014-15 to date; how many students those schools have recruited in that period; and when details of the capital funding of those schools will be published.

Mr Edward Timpson: A total of eight 16 to 19 free schools have opened in 2014-15. We hold student recruitment data for seven of these schools who have, in total, recruited 686 students in that period. After contracts for site acquisition and construction are finalised, and the cost of the project is no longer commercially sensitive, we will publish details of the capital funding received by each open free school here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-funding-for-open-free-schools. None of the schools opened in 2014-15 are at this stage, so the data is not yet published.

Nurseries: First Aid

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review paragraph 3.25 of the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage; and if she will bring forward proposals to amend that framework to ensure that all nursery staff are adequately trained in paediatric first aid.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework requires all nurseries and all pre-schools to have on duty a trained pediatric first aider. They must be on the premises at all times when children are present and accompany children on outings. Although providers are required to take into account the number of children, staff and layout of premises to ensure that a pediatric first aider is able to respond to emergencies quickly, in a recent debate, initiated by the hard work of the parents of Millie Thompson and founders of Millie’s Trust, I committed to undertaking a review of the first aid requirements to see if there is any further action needed on this important issue.

Free Schools

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what free school project applications have been withdrawn or cancelled; and what each application had spent on (a) property and planning, (b) technical and consultant and (c) legal fees before withdrawal or cancellation.

Mr Sam Gyimah: As of 16 December 2014, 21 projects have withdrawn or been cancelled. These are listed below. Name of SchoolRotherham Central Free SchoolThe Priory Rural Skills and Equestrian Free SchoolChorley Career and Sixth FormNewham Free AcademyRivendale Free SchoolBarnfield Fernwood Free SchoolThe Bristol Primary SchoolWarrington Montessori SchoolRainbow Schools (Nottingham)Northern LightsThe Leeds Retail and Financial Services AcademyHarris Free School TottenhamThe Free School LeedsTLG BradfordNewark School of EnterpriseThe Inspirar Bilingual AcademyMarco Polo AcademyOasis Community School WalthamstowPhoenix Free School of OldhamOn Track ChilternThe Advance School Norbury When a project is cancelled or withdrawn, the Department for Education seeks to make alternative use of any capital spend on sites or otherwise.Any capital costs spent on these projects are declared in the Department’s annual accounts at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-annual-reportsThe March 2014 accounts will be published in the New Year.

Educational Institutions: Worcestershire

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what capital grants for buildings repairs and maintenance her Department has given to (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools and (c) colleges in Worcester in each of the last four years.

Mr David Laws: Capital maintenance funding for maintained schools is calculated at local authority level, and provided directly to the authority. Schools also receive a small amount of devolved capital funding directly to allow them to pay for minor maintenance and repair works. It is for the local authority to decide on the priorities for their funding, according to local need and the Department for Education does not hold data on how local authority allocations are prioritised.   Allocations to Worcestershire since 2011 have been as follows: Worcestershire11-1212-1313-1414-15TotalDevolved Formula Capital£2,062,422£1,684,786£1,516,962£1,410,980£6,675,150Maintenance£11,392,278£8,793,810£7,096,726£6,617,555£33,900,369 Funding for academies is provided separately via the Academies Capital Maintenance Fund (ACMF), a bidding process to which academies apply for specific works. 4 schools in Worcester have received funding under ACMF since 2011:   School NamePhase11-1212-1313-1414-15Bishop Perowne CofE CollegeSecondary£0£158,050£311,400£0Christopher Whitehead Language CollegeSecondary£0£150,297£0£396,922Nunnery Wood High SchoolSecondary£0£2,941,440£0£0Warndon Primary SchoolPrimary£0£0£0£328,858   A further £11,252,093 has been provided to academies across Worcestershire more widely over the same period. All academies also receive the small devolved allocation, the same as maintained schools. The following grants have been made to Sixth Form Colleges in Worcester over the same period. Worcester Sixth Form College received funding through a devolved allocation similar to those given to maintained schools and academies, and via the Building Condition Improvement Fund, a bidding process similar to the Academies Capital Maintenance Fund. New College Worcester received a small amount of capital funding support as an independent special provider:11-1212-1313-1414-15Worcester Sixth Form College£1,069,034£1,005,972£1,540,387£186,065New College Worcester£0£6,465£169£4,236

Family Courts

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's financial commitment is to the Family, Drug and Alcohol Court project; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Edward Timpson: The Department for Education has been a strong supporter of the Family Drug and Alcohol Court model since 2008, and has worked closely with the team to grow the model and secure its sustainability. With regard to further financial commitment, I refer the Hon Member to the reply given to him on 14 July in PQ 204870.

Foster Care

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of foster carers; and what recent estimate she has made of the number of foster carers required.

Mr Edward Timpson: Our evidence at national level suggests that there is no overall shortage of foster carers. However, some local authorities report local difficulties, including shortages of particular types of foster carer such as those able to accommodate sibling groups and children with complex needs and challenging behaviours.The Government is investing £750,000, over the period 2013 -15, in an innovative programme to help local authorities and their partners address issues and barriers in recruiting the range of foster carers needed to meet the needs of all looked-after children.The Government's wider programme of reform for fostering aims to further support effective recruitment and retention of foster carers through: improving the assessment and approval process for new foster carers, facilitating effective delegation of parenting decisions to foster carers, and awarding £90,000 to Research in Practice to develop training on foster care for social workers.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms her Department has put in place to ensure that all its policies are consistent with the UK's commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Mr Edward Timpson: The Department for Education is committed to giving due consideration to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child during the policy-making process. It undertakes child rights impact assessments for key policy and legislative changes; the most recent one was in respect of the Children and Families Act 2014. The Department also ensures that children’s rights issues are considered as part of the Home Affairs Committee clearance process.

Leader of the House

Written Questions

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Leader of the House, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Office from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems his Office  has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.

Mr William Hague: I have made no estimate of the savings specific to my Office following the introduction of the electronic Q&A system, but like other Whitehall Departments, I expect to see savings delivered through the more efficient use of staff time, including through the removal of the need to deliver paper copies of answers, as well as in the reduction of the overall use of paper and other resources.My Office has introduced no additional ICT systems or improvements due to the implementation of electronic Q&A.One of the benefits of the new system is the possibility for the reporting of the timeliness of answers to Parliamentary Questions to be delivered with greater consistency and accuracy across all answering bodies.It will be for the Procedure Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the new system in improving performance when it assesses the evidence following the end of the Session.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Waste Disposal

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the projected total cost to local authorities in England and Wales of disposing municipal waste at energy from waste incineration facilities in 2015-16; and what estimate she has made of that cost if the derogation in the Waste Framework Directive allowing air pollution control residues to be disposed to hazardous landfill is removed.

Dan Rogerson: No estimates have been made of either the projected total cost to local authorities in England and Wales of disposing municipal waste at energy from waste incineration facilities in 2015-16, or the cost if the derogation in the Waste Framework Directive allowing air pollution control residues to be disposed to hazardous landfill is removed.

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff are employed in her Department's headquarter buildings.

Dan Rogerson: As at 30 September 2014, approximately 1,500 staff were employed by core Defra based in the London Nobel House complex.   This excludes Natural England employees and a number of staff on temporary contracts, loan or secondment from other bodies or employed through contracted out service agreements who are also based in this office complex.

Birds of Prey

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have applied for a licence for diversionary feeding on grouse moors since it was introduced.

George Eustice: Two people have applied to register for the class licence required to undertake diversionary feeding on grouse moors since it was introduced in 2013.

Birds of Prey

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve protection for (a) hen harriers and (b) British moorlands.

George Eustice: All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which implements the EC Wild Birds Directive in Great Britain. This provides a powerful framework for the conservation of wild birds, their eggs, nests and habitats.   Raptor persecution is a national wildlife crime priority, with the hen harrier one of six species highlighted for special attention.   Defra established the Hen Harrier Sub-Group of the Uplands Stakeholder Forum, whose members, landowners and conservation bodies alike, have a common interest to protect hen harriers. Members have made concerted efforts to engage and develop a draft Joint Action Plan to help the recovery of hen harrier populations in England. We are currently working with Sub-Group members to finalise the Plan.   Defra operates a range of measures to support upland areas, including English moorlands. These include protection through statutory area designations such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In addition, in 2013 we committed £31.2 million under Environmental Stewardship schemes (covering around 98,000 ha) for the maintenance and restoration of moorland habitats. A further £4.1 million was also committed in capital grants for grip blocking. Support will continue to be provided under the new Rural Development Programme during 2014-2020.

Sea Fishing: EU Action

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress has been made on discussions of deep sea fishing at the Council of Ministers; and what steps she is taking to help bring those discussions to an early conclusion.

George Eustice: Member States are close to a Council position being reached on the Commission’s proposal to update the EU deep sea access regime, which will enable it to progress to agreement with the European Parliament and final adoption.

Food

Miss Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the value of British food (a) production and (b) exports was in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: The value of British food production as it leaves the farm gate is measured at market prices in the Aggregate Agricultural Account. This does not include the value of any subsidies. The value of UK exports of food, feed and drink is estimated in the Overseas Trade Statistics at the prices paid between traders. The prices at the point of export are considerably higher than the prices at the farm gate because of value added in the wholesaling and manufacturing processes. The estimated percentage of UK production that is exported comes from Defra’s production to supply ratio calculation which involves revaluing exports to the value of the raw farm gate components.   £million201120122013Value of production of UK agriculture23,63924,20625,882Value of UK exports of food, feed and drink18,15918,16418,889

Floods: Insurance

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to ensure that parties who are to be excluded from the Flood Re scheme are given adequate time to respond to the proposals for that scheme; and if she will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: The Government response was published today, 18 December 2014, and is available on GOV.UK.   The Regulations implementing Flood Re will be subject to the affirmative procedure, providing Parliament with the opportunity to fully scrutinise them.  We also consulted on our proposals for flood insurance during summer 2013 and on the draft flood insurance clauses for the Water Bill. The Government responses to both consultations were published jointly on 18 November 2013.

Floods: Insurance

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the Government's response to the consultation on Flood Insurance: regulations for the Flood Reinsurance Scheme, which closed on 16 September 2014.

Dan Rogerson: The Government Response was published today, 18 December 2014, and is available on GOV.UK.

Hunting

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department has (a) conducted and (b) commissioned on how often using dogs to flush out foxes to be shot results in foxes being killed by the dogs rather than by shooting.

George Eustice: Defra has not conducted or commissioned any research on how often using dogs to flush out foxes to be shot results in foxes being killed by the dogs rather than by shooting.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Energy

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to support community energy schemes.

Amber Rudd: This Government is committed to supporting the growth of community energy.The way energy is generated and used in Britain is being transformed: increasing the proportion of home-grown low-carbon generation across different energy sources, while using less through an energy efficiency revolution. This Government is proud of launching the UK’s first Community Energy Strategy in January 2014 and helping communities to be part of driving this transformation.

Energy: Prices

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to help households with energy bills.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to help households with energy bills.

Mr Edward Davey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave today to Questions 906709, 906716, 906719, 906724 and 906725:http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/commons/todays-commons-debates/read/unknown/28/.

Deputy Prime Minister

Electoral Systems: Northern Ireland

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on electoral reform.

Mr Nick Clegg: I meet regularly with members of the NI Executive, and in addition my officials maintain regular contact with the devolved administrations on matters of mutual interest, including electoral reform. Details of such exchanges are not usually published.

Electoral Register: Gender Recognition

Dr Julian Huppert: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps he is taking to ensure that individual voter registration does not make it harder for transgender people to register to vote.

Mr Sam Gyimah: We've launched the new online system to make voter registration as accessible and accurate as possible.   The service has been extensively tested with a wide range of users to ensure the data the service collects allows the verification of an individual's identity. The website consistently achieves a very high satisfaction score.We will continue to improve the service based on user feedback.

Wales Office

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Alun Cairns: The Wales Office spend on taxis, first class train tickets and business class air travel in the last five financial years is shown below:  (a) Taxis(b) First Class Rail Tickets(c) Business Class Air TravelFinancial yearSpend (£)Spend (£)Spend (£)2009/107,038.00127,452.55Nil2010/113,705.90351.50Nil2011/124,638.64NilNil2012/134,459.002,763.7637,837.832013/143,415.781,751.8119,558.87

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many staff are employed in his Department's headquarter buildings.

Alun Cairns: The Wales Office has 45 staff employed in its headquarter buildings.

Economic Situation

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Welsh Government on the economic development of Wales and steps to attract inward investment to Wales.

Stephen Crabb: Inward investment is crucial to the recovery of the Welsh economy. It contributes significantly to economic growth and I am delighted that Wales had 79 inward investment projects in 2013-14. This is a significant improvement on the previous year and is testament to the collaborative working that is taking place between the UK Government and Welsh Government.The UK Investment Summit in Newport last month was another excellent example of two Governments working together and was an important opportunity to showcase Wales on a global stage. During the summit I met numerous companies that are looking to invest or to expand their investment in Wales.

Railways

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with Ministers in the Welsh Government on the letting of the Wales and Borders railway franchise.

Stephen Crabb: I am delighted that we have settled a deal between the Department for Transport and the Welsh Government to deliver the full electrification package. Our investment in this transformational project shows our commitment to deliver long term social and economic benefits to Valleys communities by helping people access the job opportunities being created in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport. As part of that deal, the UK Government has agreed to devolve executive franchising functions for the Wales and Borders franchise to the Welsh Government before the start of the next franchise in 2018.

Statistics

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with Ministers in the Welsh Government on the implications for the UK Government's policies of the recently issued gross value added statistics for Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Crabb: I hold regular discussions with the Welsh Government on the Welsh economy. I welcome the recently published statistics showing that Wales recorded the highest annual growth of Gross Value Added per head of all the UK nations and regions in 2013. Furthermore, since 2010, Wales has been the fastest growing economy of the UK nations and regions after London. Coupled with sustained falls in unemployment, this shows that our long term economic plan is working for Wales.

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in his Department in each of the last five years.

Alun Cairns: There have not been any instances of fraud or financial error in the Wales Office in the last five years. The Wales Office has robust policies and controls in place to prevent fraud and error. These policies and controls are reviewed by both internal and external audit on an annual basis and to date no issues have been found.

Ministry of Justice

Business: Corruption

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 27 of his Department's Research Strategy 2014-15, when the outcome of the survey of small businesses to assess the impact of the Bribery Act 2010 on small and medium-sized enterprises will be published.

Mike Penning: The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has shared with the Ministry of Justice the results of a survey commissioned following the Business Services Red Tape Challenge assignment to help small business fully understand the appropriate application of the Bribery Act 2010 and guidance so as not to spend unnecessary time and money on disproportionate measures. At this stage, there are no plans to publish the results of the survey.

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Mike Penning: a) The overall spend on taxis has reduced significantly over the past five years. Taxis can only be used if the proposed journey is not practicable by public transport. These figures include the transportation of prisoners to medical appointments and funerals. The spend comes out of each prisons budget and can vary, depending on location. Greater use of pool cars has reduced the overall spend on taxis over the past five years. MOJ has spent the following on taxis in the periods requested. 2010£6,914,699.282011£6,052,236.722012£5,118,258.452013£4,207,627.932014£3,110,229.09  b) There is a ban on all first class travel. The only exception to this ban is to support the needs of some disabled staff in carrying out their duties, where it is reasonable to do so. Exceptions for rail travel cannot be made on any other grounds. The MOJ has spent the following on first class rail travel in the periods requested (excluding spend by MOJ in December 2010 as this data is not currently available):  2010£1,988,205.372011£421,346.962012£352,927.962013£398,930.052014£411,327.18  c) There is a ban on all first class travel, and on business class travel for flights less than eight hours duration, except in the case of flights of five hours and over where there is a business need, such as where staff are required to go straight into a meeting following a flight or where staff are required to work on a flight and a business case is approved.The MOJ has spent the following on business class air travel for 2013 and 2014. Prior to 2013, the MoJ were contracted with a different supplier and to go through all of the individual travel records would incur disproportionate cost. 2013£78,547.752014£86,214.89

Young Offender Institutions

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of BME people held in young offender institutions were previously excluded from school.

Andrew Selous: Please see the recent survey by HM Inspectorate Prisons of young people under 18 in Young Offender Institutions, 81% of BME young people reported having been excluded from school:http://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/inspections/children-in-custody-2013-14/#.VJAwLY1trIUThe Government is transforming youth custody to put education at the heart of detention and equip young offenders with the skills, qualifications and self-discipline they need to lead productive, law-abiding lives on release. On 15 December new contracts were awarded which will more than double the current average number of hours of education provided in Young Offender Institutions each week and the Government intends that education will be at the heart of the new Secure College opening in 2017.

Young Offender Institutions

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) age, (b) sex and (c) ethnicity is of people held in youth offending insititutions.

Andrew Selous: The tables below detail the (a) age, (b) gender and (c) ethnicity of young offenders detained in each of these types of establishment since 2010/11. Table A: monthly average under-18 custody population by accommodation type and age from 2010/11 to 2014/15 (April 2014 to October 2014). Accommodation typeAge2012/132013/14*2014/15 (April to October)*Secure Children's Homes110001221113136614302622155140271636392617112017Total14213099Secure Training Centres110001200013011142118161588786316102989017417175Total253265245Young Offender Institutions11000120001300014000155942411629122919817798566501Total1,149837740Total110001221113137714514338151991601311642836531417851656592Total1,5441,2331,084  Table B: monthly average under-18 custody population by accommodation type and gender from 2010/11 to 2014/15 (April 2014 to October 2014). Accommodation typeGender2012/132013/14*2014/15 (April to October)*Secure Children's HomesFemale222217Male12110883Total14213099Secure Training CentresFemale303331Male223233214Total253265245Young Offender InstitutionsFemale2020Male1,128835740Total1,149837740TotalFemale725748Male1,4721,1761,036Total1,5441,2331,084  Table C: monthly average under-18 custody population by accommodation type and ethnicity from 2010/11 to 2014/15 (April 2014 to October 2014).Accommodation typeEthnicity2010/112011/122012/132013/14*2014/15 (April to October)*Secure Children's HomesAsian94575Black1210141112Mixed5691110Not Available1322331Other00112White1261241129770Total16516614213099Secure Training CentresAsian1316171411Black3842535560Mixed1917282627Not Available2128452Other01332White173176148162143Total264280253265245Young Offender InstitutionsAsian107111826461Black301256258197160Mixed9896997066Not Available9713747265Other3211912White1,004916652470434Total1,6101,5171,149837740TotalAsian1291311038676Black351308325263233Mixed123119135107104Not Available13118654358Other33151417White1,3031,216912728647Total2,0401,9631,5441,2331,084 * The 2013/14 and 2014/15 data are provisional. The final 2013/14 figures will be confirmed in the 2013/14 Youth Justice Statistics in January 2015, and the final 2014/15 figures will be confirmed in the 2014/15 Youth Justice Statistics in 2016. These figures are averages of 12-monthly snapshots of the custodial population in the secure estate for children and young people, taken on the last Friday of the month or first Friday of the following month, depending on which is nearer to the actual month end. The information comes from the Youth Justice Board’s (YJB's) Secure Accommodation Clearing House System (SACHS) database and eAsset database. Information from April 2012 comes from the YJB's eAsset database which replaced the SACHS database for placing young people in custody. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.

Social Security Benefits

Mr David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of medical assessments for (a) personal independence payment, (b) attendance allowance, (c) industrial injuries disablement benefit and (d) incapacity benefit have been subject to appeal in (i) Suffolk, (ii) Bedfordshire, (iii) Cambridgeshire, (iv) Essex, (v) Hertfordshire, (vi) Norfolk and (vii) England in each of the last five years; and what the cost was of administering such appeals in each such year.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decisions on a range of benefits, including Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, and Incapacity Benefit. (1) Appeals against decisions for ESA can be made for various reasons, not just about entitlement. HMCTS is unable to differentiate between appeals relating to matters of entitlement and those relating to other issues about claims for ESA, and therefore does not hold the information requested. (2) HMCTS does not record data specifically relating to appeals where a medical assessment has been conducted by the DWP and therefore does not hold the information requested.

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The information required to provide a full response to the question could not be collated within the time available. I will write to the honourable member providing a full reply.

Segregation of Prisoners

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people segregated in prison in England and Wales have protected characteristics in each of the last three years for which data are available.

Andrew Selous: Prisoners may be segregated as a last resort and for the shortest time necessary for reasons of good order and discipline or for their own protection. While segregated, prisoners are subject to a number of mandatory safeguards designed to ensure their safety and well being. Prisoners will be returned to normal location as soon as it is safe to do so. Figures recording the number of prisoners with protected characteristics who have been placed in segregation are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost by collating the information from records held locally at each prison.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to answer Question 215901, tabled on 25 November 2014; and what the reasons are for the time taken to answer that Question.

Mike Penning: I am sorry for the delay in answering Question 215901. I can confirm that the question has been answered today, 18th December 2014.

Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effects of Parental Alienation Syndrome on family breakdowns; and what plans he has to issue guidance or bring forward legislative proposals to deal with that syndrome and its effects.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effects of Parental Alienation Syndrome on families; and what plans he has to issue guidance or being forward legislative proposals to deal with those effects.

Simon Hughes: The family courts consider the facts of each case with the welfare of the child as paramount. Parental Alienation Syndrome is not recognised as a 'syndrome' by many professionals in this country.  The courts do, however, recognise that some resident parents are responsible for alienating their children from non-resident parents and can take this into account when considering their decisions.

Serco

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many tenders from Serco for contracts let by his Department were successful in each year since May 2010; how much his Department paid to Serco for the execution of contracts in each such year; how many contracts which terminate after 2015 Serco hold with his Department; and what the monetary value is of all outstanding contracts between his Department and Serco.

Andrew Selous: To provide this information would entail extracting information from a system and then identifying and contacting individuals responsible for the managing the relevant contracts, to validate the data and to also obtain further financial information. I will write to the honourable member with an answer.

Prisoners' Release

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of those imprisoned under an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection have been released on licence in each year since May 2010.

Andrew Selous: It is for the independent Parole Board to determine whether a prisoner serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) should be released once he has completed the minimum custodial period set by the Court for the purposes of retribution and deterrence – commonly known as the “tariff”. Under the statutory release test, the Parole Board may direct the release of an IPP prisoner only if it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for the prisoner to be detained in custody. The number of prisoners serving an IPP sentence released from prison from the year 2010 until June 2014 is published aspart of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication by the Ministry of Justice. This is available online at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly

Electronic Tagging

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether Just Solutions International is a contractor or a sub-contractor in the current electronic monitoring contract.

Andrew Selous: Just Solutions International is neither a contractor nor a sub-contractor with regards to current electronic monitoring contracts.

National Archives

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has and in what time frame to digitise (a) records from North Staffordshire and Newcastle Manor Copy Rolls and (b) other records in the National Archive; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Hughes: Surviving manorial documents dating back to the 12th century are spread across a number of repositories and private owners, and digitisation would be a matter for the record owners. The National Archives holds a paper index (the Manorial Documents Register) which describes and locates these records and is available for the public to view in its reading rooms. The National Archives and its partners are currently revising, updating and publishing this index online, and entries relating to North Staffordshire and Newcastle will be made available online in 2015. The National Archives is committed to digitising as many of the historical records it holds as possible and with its partners currently digitises around 10 million pages each year, with a focus on those series of records which are most in demand.

Courts: Buildings

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2014 to Question 215302, whether he plans to commission external (a) consultants and (b) accountants to plan the five year investment.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Reform Programme is led by officials in HMCTS, but will draw on specialist external resource where necessary, to allow the department to effectively plan and deliver the programme. This will ensure that we deliver the best possible value for money from the investment, on behalf of the taxpayer.

Cabinet Office

Training

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place in the Library a copy of the syllabus and teaching materials used in the delivery of the Major Projects Leadership Academy course.

Mr Francis Maude: The Major Projects Leadership Academy is delivered through the Oxford SaÏd Business School, in partnership with Deloitte. I will place a copy of the Major Projects Leadership Academy curriculum and a reading list in the House of Commons Library shortly and publish them at https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/managing-major-projects-more-effectively

Fraud

Lucy Powell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.

Mr Francis Maude: Before 2012/13 fraud data was published within the HM Treasury Fraud Report or estimated in the National Fraud Authority Annual Fraud Indicators. During 2011/12 Cabinet Office suffered one fraud that was below the reporting threshold. The member of staff responsible was dismissed and the money recovered in full.From 2012/13 figures on fraud and financial error have been provided to the Cabinet Office as part of the Quarterly Data Summary returns, for Central Departments, and all ALBs who receive over £100m public funding per annum. Cabinet Office reported no fraud or financial error for 2012/13 or 2013/14.

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Imperial War Museum

Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Imperial War Museum on proposals to close that museum's library; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Although the Ministry of Defence and Imperial War Museum work closely together on various projects, the Ministry of Defence does not directly fund or support any of the Imperial War Museum’s activities; the Museum receives its core Grant in Aid through the Department for Culture Media and Sport, as a Non Departmental Public Body. The IWM is currently in discussion with the Department about its programme of change, including changes to how core collections including books are accessed at IWM London. A programme of digitisation of these core collections is in train so that those across the UK and further afield who are not able to visit the museum sites in person, can engage with IWM’s subject matter and collection. The IWM is also looking at a number of options around access to its collections. All accessioned collection items, and some (non-accessioned) books, ephemera, will remain at or under the museum’s direct management and will continue to be accessible by appointment. However the option of a possible transfer to other institutions of some of the non-accessioned materials currently held in the library which are not part of its core collection has been raised, so that these might be accessible elsewhere. Throughout discussions the IWM has remained fully committed to maintaining its presence in Manchester, London and Cambridgeshire.

Staff

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff are employed in his Department's headquarter buildings.

Mrs Helen Grant: The number of permanent employees in the Department's headquarters employed by DCMS is 435 which includes GEO.

Broadband: Urban Areas

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014 to Question 209986, how much of the Super Connected Cities budget was spent on advertising in each month since March 2014.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The following sums have been spent from the Super Connected Cities budget on advertising or advertising agencies since March 2014: September£234,304.89October£531,454.76November£392,440.07

Broadband: Urban Areas

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which cities will be covered by the extended Super Connected Cities programme; and on what criteria they are chosen.

Mr Edward Vaizey: We would like to extend the benefits of the Connection Vouchers Scheme to as many businesses in cities as possible. We have already written to 28 cities not currently in the scheme to invite them to take part, and these include previously eligible cities for the Super Connected Cities Programme and those involved in the City Deals' programme. Those cities who wish to participate will need to show that they can administer the scheme in their city and promote it to their local SME sector.

Travel

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.

Mrs Helen Grant: With the exception of spending on taxis, and for travel before financial year 2013/14, the Department’s systems do not do not routinely classify travel information in this way and producing it would incur disproportionate cost.Expenditure on taxis fares in the last five years was as follows: Financial Year DCMS Expenditure£s GEO Expenditure£sTotal Expenditure£s2009-10 18,149 Information not held18,1492010-11 9,224 Information not held9,2242011-12 23,153 1,17224,3252012-13 51,596 2,29753,8932013-14 9,754 45210,206These figures include expenditure directly related to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.DCMS is only able to recognise the class of travel from 1 Feb 2013 when it changed its travel agent. Prior to this there was no distinction made on travel costs with relation to its class for either air or train travel, and therefore this cannot be shown. Travel expenses incurred in 2013/14 are as follows:   DCMS Expenditure£sGEO Expenditure£sTotal Expenditure£sBusiness Class air fares54,7782,21956,997First Class train tickets2590259

Food Banks

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2014 to Question 217484, which Ministers in his Department have visited which foodbanks on what dates.

Mrs Helen Grant: No DCMS Ministers have visited foodbanks in a Ministerial capacity.

Culture: North of England

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 2.249 of the Autumn Statement 2014 (a) where and (b) when the Great Exhibition in the North will take place; with which organisations he plans to work to co-ordinate that Exhibition; what planning has taken place so far for that Exhibition; and whether the £1 million referred to in that Statement is in addition to or separate from previously announced amounts.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government is working with the Arts Council England (ACE) to identify a suitable venue in the North to host the exhibition, which will take place in 2016-17. The Government will work with ACE and a number of national and regional museums in ongoing planning and coordination for the Exhibition. The £1m referred to in the Autumn Statement is separate from any previously announced amounts and is specific to this Exhibition which will include highlights of the great art, culture and design of the North.

Mobile Phones

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014 to Question 209987, in respect of how many of the 135 sites in acquisition stage have contracts been signed; what the value of those contracts is; and what the value of all the contracts that have been signed within the Mobile Infrastructure Project is.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Contracts for site acquisition have been signed in respect of each of the 135 sites. The total number of contracts signed to date is 957. The value of each contract varies on the specific requirements and the outcome of each stage based on a commercially confidential rate card. The total contract spend on site acquisition to date is £464,649. The total contract spend to date for the Mobile Infrastructure Project overall is £3,868,614.

Broadband

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many of the Phase 2 English project areas participating in the superfast broadband rollout programme in procurement have received bids or offers from suppliers other than BT.

Mr Edward Vaizey: There has, to date, been no Phase 2 English projects that have received bids from suppliers other than BT

Broadband Delivery UK

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much BDUK paid Oxera to conduct a state aid evaluation of the National Broadband Scheme; how many full-time equivalent employees are working on that evaluation; how many representations Oxera received and from whom these representations were received; whether BDUK plans to publish those representations; and when BDUK plans to publish that evaluation.

Mr Edward Vaizey: To date no payments has been made to Oxera. The Invitation to tender (ITT) required suppliers undertake an evaluation of the National Broadband Scheme and it was for the bidders to judge how much resource they required to deliver the project within the timeframe. Based on an assessment of the bids against the criteria set out in the ITT, Oxera was the successful bidder. A report on the evaluation will be published in Spring 2015. As the evaluation is on-going, a final list of the respondents is not yet available, but there have been15 submissions to date.